tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-215202092018-03-07T10:41:31.982-08:00The Operative NoteMusic I listen to, would like to share with others, and feel competent writing about. Largely Rock, R&amp;B, Jazz, some Pop.Subhorup Dasguptanoreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-45419972239068487792018-02-28T12:23:00.000-08:002018-02-28T14:11:24.415-08:00The Unholy Trinity: Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton"I talked with the white man on whose place this negro died and I also talked with a negro woman on the place. The plantation owner said the negro man, seemingly about 26 years old, came from Tunica two or three weeks before he died to play banjo at a negro dance given there on the plantation. He stayed in the house with some of the negroes saying he wanted to pick cotton. The white man did not have a doctor for this negro as he had not worked for him. He was buried in a homemade coffin furnished by the county. The plantation owner said it was his opinion that the man died of syphilis."<br /><br />Thus read the physician's comment on the death certificate of <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2011/05/robert-johnson-delta-blues.html" target="_blank">Robert Johnson</a> who later came to be known as the father of the <a href="http://subhorup.blogspot.in/2012/05/brief-history-of-blues-music.html" target="_blank">blues</a>. He was born in 1911 and died at the age of 27. He had gained some popularity among the audience for what can best be called race music in that era. He did not get to record till he was 25, and his extant body of work consists of 29 songs and 13 alternative takes. All of these (except one) can be found on&nbsp; Columbia's 1990 release of The Complete Recordings. It is fascinating that this man, whose lifetime overlapped those of Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf would go on to influence guitarists and music for all time since. Popular legend of his time, and his own insinuations, have it that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange of mastery over the blues guitar.&nbsp; His death at age 27 is also a mystery with different interpretations of the same cause, poisoning. <br /><br />The Faustian exchange is a recurrent motif in human history. In literature, among others, it has been explored by Marlowe, Goethe, Thomas Mann, Heine, Gertrude Stein, Pessoa, and Vaclav Havel, and the complete list would be many times longer. Many films have the selling of the soul as a central theme. The reason this concept is so compelling that it is woven into being across cultures and ages is that it is a defense mechanism, a psychological refuge that lets one handle the incomprehensibility of one's realities. As one realizes that a false self, derived from abandoning one's genuine feelings, might be more acceptable to one's world and loved ones, such a bargain with an imaginary power starts looking like the perfect solution. Robert Johnson defied explanation in his electrifying work with slides and intervals, carving in rock the new definition of Delta blues. His own allusions to the crossroad added impetus to the legend becoming the most acceptable explanation for his genius. His success with women must also have been a factor in the legend, just as it was in the poisoning&nbsp; (in a drink that was poisoned by the husband of one of the married women he was having an affair with, a drink that was meant for her and not for him) that made him a founder member of the 27-Club.<br /><br />The deal with the devil has been assumed in many cases, and not just in the history of&nbsp; popular music. In the later half of the 20th century, there was a widespread submission to drugs and alcohol, both in literature and music, with many of the most respected names of the creative world dabbling in excesses to the point it got them killed or institutionalized. The underlying explanation for this is the paradigm of the tortured artist. The artist, being sensitive and creative, carries pain within him for the wrongs of the world, be it in their personal experience, or in the collective social aspect. The search for identity and acceptance is another area of pain that many creative people end up making a deal with "the devil" to live with, if not overcome.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jt-g2fzks40/WpCnvpNY9BI/AAAAAAAAGBM/ulCOFdL5SRo0iLmOA0HLFOfsi6JFEtKpgCLcBGAs/s1600/robert_johnson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="530" height="542" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jt-g2fzks40/WpCnvpNY9BI/AAAAAAAAGBM/ulCOFdL5SRo0iLmOA0HLFOfsi6JFEtKpgCLcBGAs/s640/robert_johnson.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />With Robert Johnson, the alleged deal got him the mastery of his form, and a lot of drink and women. Ultimately, it was this combination that got him killed. With later musicians and writers, it was a different story. Most of them believed that it was only under the influence that one could perform and be creative, that it opened up "the doors of perception" that closed when the drug was taken away. The fact that this view was being subscribed to by the role models and icons of popular culture led to the drug abuse and its consequent tragedies among young people all over the world, a phenomenon that does not entirely seem to have subsided even today.<br /><br />Robert Johnson spent his life playing on street corners, drinking joints and dance clubs, and was practically unknown even to his contemporaries or the generation that came immediately after him.&nbsp; The world was unmoved by the intensity of this musician who lived, breathed and dyed the blues forever. As a matter of fact, it wasn't till the 1961 release of his King of The Delta Blues Singers that musicians and the listening audience really got to know of his work. (Kind of gives me hope that some day someone will find my work and say, hey, this is semi-null.) His work was noticed by&nbsp; White America before the brethren, and in Britain before his homeland. The Rolling Stones almost entirely modeled their early music on his phrasing and turnarounds, and ended up including most of his songs in their repertoire and discography. His baseline with the added top notes had a direct influence, one that is publicly acknowledged, on the the work of Hendrix and Clapton. Almost every R&amp;B musician across time has interpreted at least one if not many (if not all) of his songs. He is the beginning, the middle and the end of any blues guitarist's education.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">***** </div><br />Jimi Hendrix was born four years after Robert Johnson died. Hendrix had a reasonably traumatic childhood. He did not meet his father till he was three, and was left by his mother with his grandparents. After his parents reunited, their struggles with their own demons was of no comfort to little Jimi. His parents could not get a sufficient grip on themselves to be parents to the five children they gave birth too, and Jimi saw all three of his younger sibling being given up for adoption.&nbsp; When he was nine, his parents divorced and his father was given custody of him and his brother.<br /><br />Jimi Hendrix would have grown up listening to the sound of the blues as not only a resurgence of the roots and identity of the black American, but also as white boys began taking to the guitar and the washboard. This was the age of Elvis on one hand and Muddy Waters, BB King and Robert Johnson on the other. There is a record, as a child, of Hendrix carrying around a broom at all times like a guitar, a security blanket of sorts, to the point that his school social worker wrote to his father that getting him a guitar might save him from the psychological damage that he was heading towards. There is no record that his father thought anything of that request. It wasn't till age 15 that he got his hands around a guitar, a five-dollar acoustic.<br /><br />Over the next two years, one would imagine that Hendrix did little else than play the guitar. He tried his hand at playing with others, none of them successful to any degree, and he was already on his way to defining himself beyond the music, seeing the act of performing music, the act of living the life of a musician as an artistic/social/philosophical statement. His father did go on to buy him his first electric guitar, and his second, a Silvertone Danelectro on which he carved his girlfriend's name.&nbsp; He was 19 years old when he got drafted into the army. It was during his year of service in the army that he met bassist Billy Cox, and the two would go on to collaborate for much of his career. Hendrix didn't like the army, but it turned out that the army disliked him even more. As with his school years, his superiors recommended his discharge, labeling his problems not treatable by "hospitalization or counseling."<br /><br />Over the next years, Hendrix found himself on the rhythm and blues circuit, in failed bands and as a sideman for several popular blues celebrities, and his earliest recording is with The Isley Brothers in 1964. He did this for the next three years, with growing dissatisfaction at the limitations of the sideman and the blues guitar formats, but getting noticed wherever he went - by musicians, managers and the audience. In 1966, following a series of interventions by Keith Richards, Hendrix found himself a manager and put together the band that would become The Jimi Hendrix Experience.<br /><br />This band recorded three albums (Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland) all three of which continue to be in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone%27s_500_Greatest_Albums_of_All_Time" target="_blank">The Top 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time</a>. Noel Redding played the bass, and Mitch Mitchell drums, but the experience was all about Hendrix, his performances being an art form by itself, challenging and sometimes surpassing the intrinsic value of the music he was playing. For many people, Hendrix is more about the gimmickry of his performance than his music itself. Every reference to his life mandatorily highlights his playing with his teeth, playing behind his back, between his legs, and setting fire to his guitar. None of this in way detracts from the musical evolution that he was a catalyst to. <br /><br />I heard Clapton before I heard Hendrix, and Hendrix before I heard Robert Johnson. I see Hendrix as the principal architect of the electric blues and in some ways the electric guitar itself. He is acknowledged as the founding father of the overdriven fuzz of the electric sound as well as the use of distortion pedals and the wah-wah envelop.<br /><br />The Jimi Hendrix Experience was an almost instant success, finding critical acclaim both at home and in the continent. Their performance in the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival was the high point of what they stood for, as thousands watched spellbound as he went about his guitar calisthenics before finally setting it on fire. By the time Woodstock came around in 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience in its first iteration was over and done with, and Jimi Hendrix was the highest paid musician in the world. He straddled avant-garde and Black Power and the peacenik movement with ease and grace.&nbsp; His rendition of the American National Anthem, Star Spangled Banner, at Woodstock, wearing a red head-scarf, a white jacket and blue jeans, was not only musically intense, but also a summary of where the American people stood at that time.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rxswi3F1s2c/WpCn7IcuLII/AAAAAAAAGBQ/HSdtvHP1akkAWjNQiLwpdJyz_ut6iyeMQCLcBGAs/s1600/hendrix%2Bwoddstock%2Bcolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="420" height="434" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rxswi3F1s2c/WpCn7IcuLII/AAAAAAAAGBQ/HSdtvHP1akkAWjNQiLwpdJyz_ut6iyeMQCLcBGAs/s640/hendrix%2Bwoddstock%2Bcolor.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Hendrix appeared to enjoy the adulation he received and the power he wielded, but the musician in him was at odds with the trappings of fame. He would struggle to see beyond the chaff, and would go on binges, of drugs, of alcohol, of sleep deprivation, of sex, in a desperate attempt to find his way back to the core of his being, the core of being a bluesman. Although he continued to tear his way through every definition of musicianship of his time, he was also increasingly disappointed by the commerce of music. &nbsp; <br /><br />Post-Woodstock, Hendrix would team up with his old army friend, Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles to work on what would be his last album, a live compilation from two nights at the Fillmore East over New Years Eve, 1969-70. The lineup and the album was titled Band of Gypsies, from a comment he had made during his Woodstock appearance. The short-lived, all-black lineup was plagued with disappointing concerts and external politics, and fell apart just as abruptly as it had come together. Hendrix then went on to resurrect the Experience, but this time with Billy Cox on bass replacing Noel Redding. Their touring together gave them various names, but they are mostly remembered as the Cry of Love band as that was the name of the album they were working on recording during their time together. Hendrix would not live to see that album released.<br /><br />During all of this time, his use of drugs and alcohol had been growing to a point where it was significantly impairing his ability to perform. With multiple charges of possession and public misdemeanors, he was continuously getting into trouble with people because of&nbsp; his violent outbursts under the influence. Drinking and drugs would unleash a pent up fury within him that appeared totally contrary to the loving, humanitarian, creative person that he was otherwise. His binges would last days and weeks, with little or no sleep and chaos in every footstep. As he grew in musical stature and in terms of the influence he exerted on music, on the music industry, and on the audience, he also grew in his drug and alcohol related dysfunction. Some of his biggest concert recordings are musical washouts because of his utter indisposition. <br /><br />In 1970, he was working harder than ever before, touring, putting the finishing touches to his own recording studio, dealing with several different lawsuits (paternity, recording contracts, drug possession) making more money than ever before, taking more drugs than ever before, and hardly sleeping. Fueled by alcohol, barbiturates, and LSD, he was a monkey on a long rope. He was also running low on close relationships, desperately reaching out for the one person he would be able to trust. Three days before his death, he told Sharon Lawrence, a journalist and close friend, "I can't sleep. I can't focus to write any songs." On September 18, Hendrix died, having choked and drowned in his own vomit without realizing it or waking from his sleep because of the heavy combination of barbiturates, alcohol and cannabis.&nbsp; He was 27.<br /><br /><br />Hendrix was a superstar and a cultural icon in his lifetime. His primary identity as a performing artist and his rapid rise to fame ensured that all his work was documented. He left behind thousands of hours of live recording, hundreds of alternate takes, and <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2010/04/jimi-hendrix-valleys-of-neptune.html" target="_blank">several songs in different stages of completion</a>. After his death, an industry has been built on reissuing his work, old and new. legitimate and barely there, authorized and bootleg. His father, Al was not cut out to deal with the big monopolists of a rapacious music industry, and had signed away the rights to half of Hendrix's work to the labels before he even realized it. Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, came to his aid and helped fund the legal battle that would see the estate of Jimi Hendrix regain control over his body of work. Paul also put himself out to create the Experience Music Project, initially a Jimi Hendrix museum that later evolved into the Museum of Pop Culture.<br /><br />It is easy to say that Hendrix, like the other <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2010/09/west-coast-seattle-boythe-jimi-hendrix.html" target="_blank">West Coast Seattle boy</a>, Kurt Cobain, had nowhere to go musically when he died, but it remains mere speculation. It definitely would have been challenging to keep the graph going at the right angle, but when you listen to tracks like The Wind Cries Mary, Little Wing, Angel, or Red House, you instinctively feel there was more where it was coming from, that there was more than just distortion units and clever feedback loops, that popularity obscured his latent creative potential. Hendrix was a musician inside and a showman on the outside to cover up for the insecurities that every creative artist has to deal with. We can also only speculate about the faustian trade-off of his life and time. Like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Michael Jackson, and perhaps even Elvis, he yearned to belong, not to his fans or to history, but to a love that one comes home to. Perhaps the price of such spectacular success is the absence of meaningful, stable, trusting relationships. &nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">*****</div><br />Eric Clapton was three years younger than Hendrix, and they were making music on different sides of the ocean at about the same time. British rock was influenced by the blues from the onset, and the visits from pioneering bluesmen like Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters opened up the horizon for what would later become the British invasion. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Animals, Fleetwood Mac, Cream, and the various lineups that Eric Clapton was part of not only popularized and electrified the genre but also contributed to the documentation of musical heritage - not exactly the stuff that comes to mind when you visualize Mick Jagger strutting about or Jimmy Page and Robert Plant doing Kashmir, but yeah. It helps to keep in mind that British rock was equally about The Beatles, The Who, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, who were influenced by rock and roll, white American music and the charisma of King Elvis.&nbsp; <br /><br />It is a bit of a square peg round hole trick to put Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton on the same page. Hendrix and Johnson died at 27. As I write, Clapton is 72 and still "rocking." Johnson recorded a handful of songs while Hendrix put out three studio albums in his lifetime. Clapton is prodigiously productive, with 23 solo studio outings so far, and innumerable collaborations and live recordings.&nbsp; Johnson and Hendrix were quintessentially American, black and blue. Clapton was, for most of his life, a fairly propah, right wing, white boy. For Hendrix and Johnson, the blues were what was running in their blood. For Clapton, it was a life-long education and teaching project. Robert Johnson and Hendrix played with their gut, their uncontrolled passion spilling all over the fretboard. Clapton was the eye of the storm, the anchor in a stormy sea, standing still and letting his mind dictate what his heart and fingers felt like doing. His Slowhand nickname came from his unusual habit of not having a standby guitar in case of a broken string, but instead coolly and purposefully changing the string on stage - leading to the audience doing a slow hand clap to keep things up. &nbsp; <br /><br />In my mind, I see Clapton in a reverse-Faustian deal that let him evolve to deepen and strengthen the heritage that Johnson and Hendrix belonged to. He overcame his addictions, the tragic loss of his 4-year-old son, and the inevitable burnout of midlife to reclaim his personal life and reinvent himself as a chronicler of the history of the blues.&nbsp; <br /><br />Eric Clapton had run through the Yardbirds and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers before finding the magic that would come to be known as Cream. Clapton Is God graffiti was everywhere. An assiduous student, he studied Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, and the earlier bluesmen to uncover and evolve his own phrasal style. His interest in the rock format made him master white boy styles as well, resulting in the vocabulary that created his language. Keeping in rhythm with the cultural demands of the age, he did a lot of what people wanted versus what he wanted to do. It wasn't till late in his life, as he dealt with his own addiction and personal tragedies that he turned away from popular appeal to start exploring and interpreting the roots of the blues.<br /><br />He was also more adventurous and perhaps courageous than most of his contemporaries. Instead of sticking to what worked, he decided to make his footprint as large as he could. If Cream was a big step up from the purism of Yardbirds and Bluesbreakers, Blind Faith was a leap into a genre that was struggling to come into being both in UK and in the States. Derek and the Dominoes was more in tune with the long form rock of the time. He played with The Beatles, Frank Zappa and Buddy Guy. He had been able to carve out his own space in whatever he did, whether it was pop, rock, jazz, or reggae. As a vocalist, albeit a reluctant one for most of his life, he was able to build a songwriting and arrangement style that would suit his mediocre singing skills. Like JJ Cale, his later mentor and counsel, he would understate and use absence that allowed the listener to become a participant in the experience of the song.His cross country race across genres and formats allowed him to study and perfect the syntax of masters across time and contexts. When he played, he allowed the boundaries to blur, resulting in a melodic architecture that was all his own.&nbsp; <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d6IBvfOpsvc/WpCoK-l7EII/AAAAAAAAGBU/WKzFFHu2DRQDf8KvQxEr6dSloG9IIrUkACLcBGAs/s1600/claptoncreamreunion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="1000" height="428" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d6IBvfOpsvc/WpCoK-l7EII/AAAAAAAAGBU/WKzFFHu2DRQDf8KvQxEr6dSloG9IIrUkACLcBGAs/s640/claptoncreamreunion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />While he had achieved god status with his early band work, there was little in his first few solo releases to indicate the depth of his creativity - it was more skill and a perfect fit with the audience expectations of his time. His work with The Yardbirds, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Cream and Blind Faith is intense and magical blues band work in the tradition of rock, with every member of the team bringing their own unique flavors to the dish. But these were also the years when he was engaging increasingly with drugs and alcohol, struggling with his love life, and battling spells of depressive isolation. In 1982, after he cleaned up, it seemed like the music inside him had dried up as well. The decade between his coming into recovery and the release of Unplugged saw him tread cautiously, guesting and sticking to standards, perhaps unsure of what he would find if he looked too hard.<br /><br />The death of his son in 1991 is a very clear turning point in his musical journey. Though he would still continue to do popular music, his focus turned to collaborations and documentation. Unplugged was released in 1992 to unbelievable success, commercial and creative. The electricity of Unplugged is undeniable. It is the sound of a giant reawakening and putting his foot down, as if to say, this is it. Better it if you can. Unplugged was the official release of the MTV Unplugged episode featuring&nbsp; Clapton on acoustic guitar and playing some of his own songs along with several standards. The album was and continues to be a bestseller, and holds the world record for the best selling live recording ever. Clapton was in his elements, playing to a small studio audience, enjoying himself, enjoying playing the music that he was totally at home with and with no fear of extending boundaries of playfulness. The Unplugged version of Tears in Heaven, recorded soon after the original single release of the song, made the song an international chart topper and a multi-award winner. Along with Tears in Heaven, Unplugged also had a version of My Father's Eyes, making it a unique embrace of his grief over the lack of his father and the loss of his child. He also did an unexpected version of the otherwise hysterically-paced Layla, which laid out the richness of the composition for all to see.<br /><br />After Unplugged, Clapton released his first all blues album, From The Cradle. It didn't go down very well, as Clapton was treading waters that he was not expected to tread, and the wide range of standards demanded a vocal caliber that he lacked. Some historians were dismissive of the work, of the performance and even of the title, assuming that Clapton implied this album to be from his cradle, when he had a few degrees of separation from true blues. Clapton retreated to his own songs and spent a great deal of time and energy over his next two albums, Pilgrim and Reptile. Fans and critics are divided over the creative merit of these two albums, and I personally feel that after the burnt out sound of Money and Cigarettes, these are two of his least appealing albums. In between, he did a collaboration album, all-blues again, with the legendary BB King, which too was panned by critics. While the album truly fails to showcase the stellar qualities of either musician, as a historical recording, it has its own father-son place. Like the Traveling Wilbury's, this album highlights the comfort, the ease, and the fun time that great musicians have when working together. Many of BB King's live appearance with Clapton have greater electricity than the songs on this release.<br /><br />Clapton followed up with Me and Mr. Johnson in 2004 and Road to Escondido (with JJ Cale) in 2006. Both of these are masterpieces that bring the focus back to what the blues are all about. The 14 tracks of Me and Mr. Johnson are Clapton's tribute to Robert Johnson, and it comes together beautifully. The guitar work is immaculate and heartfelt, while the arrangements and engineering made the album sound like a tight band playing in a small townhall. If you look at the guitar work on this album in the context of Clapton's life's work, you can see how deeply he was influenced by Robert Johnson's work. One can hear phrases from every era of Clapton's work in this album interpreted against the songs of Robert Johnson - very eerie when you first get it, eerier still as you listen to it over and over again, each listening revealing new layers and nuances and references to context.<br /><br />JJ Cale was Clapton's role model during the years he was getting disillusioned with the rock song guitar god mantle that he had got his head into. JJ Cale with his unique blend of blues and American roots music, with his barely there vocals, and his avant garde approach to electronic sound and sound engineering, was the man who wrote songs that made others famous. After Midnight and Cocaine were Clapton staples, while Lynnyrd Skynnyrd covered Call Me The Breeze to incredible success. Though the work of JJ Cale defined the sound Cajun blues sound for decades, he himself was a recluse, shunning publicity and the public. Except to fans and blues completionists, JJ Cale as a musician and singer was an unknown (including The Recording Academy) till The Road To Escondido.<br /><br />Except for Unplugged, Clapton was never able to recreate the glory of his early rock years. In some sense, it might be assumed that he traded success for his commitment to the blues, as he dug deeper into the roots of what gave him his fame to start with. The last decade and a half have been written off by the middle of the road Clapton fan club as senile meandering. His refusal to perform songs that no longer held relevance is also an indication of his commitment to devote himself to the future.&nbsp; <br /><br />In between albums of mostly his own songs (none of which were sensational or pathbreaking any more, with the exception of Clapton - with its jazzy, bluesy feel), Clapton did a nostalgia piece called Old Sock, covering songs he had grown up with - an album that is pleasant listening musically and historically, but without any surprises.&nbsp; He also teamed up with Wynton Marsalis for two nights at the Lincoln Center for Jazz in New York, resulting in a live album - <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2011/10/eric-clapton-wynton-marsalis-play-blues.html" target="_blank">Play The Blues</a>. Most Clapton fans will struggle to recognize this album, since it is more King Oliver and New Orleans than Duane Allman and Surrey, England. It is a set of classics, played to perfection by perhaps the most perfectionist of jazz bands and leaders. It is like one of the last few stations before you reach home, a culmination of a musical journey that takes a lifetime.<br /><br />Clapton stands for the completion of the cycles of cause and effect. His recovery from addiction and his continued efforts to keep issues like addiction and child safety in the limelight are his ways of making up for lost time, lost life, and lost love. In his own way, he has countered the romanticization of drug abuse that performers like Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain has bequeathed upon young listeners. His journeying into the archives is his way of paying back his debt of gratitude for the insights that the music offered him. His lifelong commitment to his musical integrity (his songs and albums have matured, but never degenerated or strayed) is his way of making up for what Robert Johnson and Hendrix could not or perhaps, given the chance, would not do. There are dark patches in his life and work, whether it be musical or political or even with his relationships with his loved ones, but all of it is overshadowed by the indelible and incredible body of work that he has already created.<br /><br />Clapton continues to write and release new music, stimulating, classical, and now a genre of his own, in spite of advanced age, battling peripheral neuropathy, eczema and noise exposure induced tinnitus. Much of his energy is devoted to documenting and preserving the heritage of the blues and to introduce new listeners to the mystery of its philosophy. One hundred and seven years after the birth of Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton continues the work that he began - that of broadcasting the voice and the victory of the oppressed to the masses, making it sound so loud, ring so long, wail so hurt that the gods sit up and take note. If it is a deal with the devil, so be it. The Blues gave hope when there was none, and the fact that it is still the foundation of popular music, be it rock or rap, indicates that it will continue to do so for all time to come.&nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">*****</div><br />Writing about these three musicians has been one of the most challenging exercises I have ever undertaken. There has been so much written about them, much of it close to the last word, that to contemplate writing a new piece that would add any value to the existing literature seemed daunting. Thanks to the way life works, I was motivated to take this on in the course of dealing with personal challenges on multiple fronts.&nbsp; Writing this helped me refocus on what was important to me, realize the futility of anger and the brevity of life, and acquire a deeper understanding of personal freedom. It also helped me reaffirm my personal understanding of addiction and recovery, something that gets taken for granted and fades into the background with time.<br /><br />I also learned a number of things that I was not aware of (which I have not detailed in the 5000 words above) in spite of my avid reading of music over the years. For instance, while I knew about the blue note, I was not aware of the history of the diabolic interval or the Devil's Tritone, and how, even after the advent of secular music, written music was proofread to ensure that the flattened fifth did not creep into the score even by mistake. I was also not aware of the encounter between Clapton and Hendrix, one that left Clapton in awe, and perhaps compelled him to broaden his playing style just to remain god.<br /><br />It was also challenging to build a commonality that would allow me to hold these three guitarists in the same thread. While it was not difficult to choose these three, I did feel guilty for the ones I did not choose, the ones I did not tip my hat to, and there are hundreds on that list. Life is like that, you buy a car, and almost immediately start yearning for another.&nbsp; I was also torn between getting more basic and writing a piece that would introduce readers to the work of these three, versus assuming that the reader had sufficient close listening behind him to understand reference to context.&nbsp; Ultimately, I write to heal myself, so I stuck to the latter. Finally, there was the size of this piece. I get flak for putting more than 1000 words in one post, and this ran way past the 5000 mark. I did not make any effort to cut back beyond the usual editing. I am pleased.&nbsp; <br /><br />For the few that have read through till here, my sympathies, and to all the rest, my sympathies. The blues, if closely lived, will teach you all that you need to win over your past, present and future. <br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/TIz_UTf7MuQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com4http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-unholy-trinity-robert-johnson-jimi.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-31012346425066817832017-04-25T14:27:00.002-07:002017-04-25T14:38:14.728-07:00A Movement Called Kraftwerk I keep an ear out for what young people are listening to, since new music is always the most exciting frontier. Among serious listeners of today, the more popular genres are EDM, trance, techno, and of course, hip-hop. I admit to not totally grasping the beauty of all of these genres, in spite of the adventures of <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2012/05/robert-moog-google-doodle.html" target="_blank">Robert Moog</a> and the early explorations of synthesized sound being highlights of our teen years. <b>Jean Michel Jarre</b>, <b>Stockhausen</b> and <b>Brian Eno</b> were high art. My friends and I frothed at the mouth as we built ring modulators and drum machines from circuits published in EFY magazine. When Casio released the monophonic VL-Tone, we went berserk with its programmable attack, delay, sustain, release option. As we got older, and taste and technology evolved, we let go of it as youthful obsessions that were of no lasting value.<br /><br />One of the bands from that era that was quite unlike anything else was <b>Kraftwerk</b>. It was not <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2012/02/day-music-died.html" target="_blank">rock</a>. It was not dance music. It did not showcase keyboard or melodic skills of any great merit. It had no pretense of social relevance beyond the industrial/robotic angle. It was a focused, unapologetic celebration of synthesized sound. It stood at such a distance from any other form of music that it was a genre by itself. Before Kraftwerk hit Indian shores with their more successful releases, their bland, almost anti-emotional appeal earned them a good amount of disdain from the critics community; but the kids loved it. Their campus years film footage shows the kind of following they had even before they got their fingers on the pulse of the mass audience. The timing of this music with the increased interest in altered consciousness made things easier. Interestingly, their work laid the foundations for techno, synthpop, and EDM as we know them today. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PdxOvMQbd9M/WP-7LOeYPwI/AAAAAAAAF28/PXUTJzJXVSIjzYNe0nTJ0amwCV3_r4EYwCEw/s1600/man-machine-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PdxOvMQbd9M/WP-7LOeYPwI/AAAAAAAAF28/PXUTJzJXVSIjzYNe0nTJ0amwCV3_r4EYwCEw/s320/man-machine-cover.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Man Machine - The Kraftwerk album that I first heard </td></tr></tbody></table><br />By the time the 80s came around, the sound was accepted, their compositions and albums got better packaged for mass consumption, and their German avant-garde clinical image became an essential component of their appeal. But the music was still the same. Clever use of synthesizers and sequencers around simple composition with elementary lyrics if any. Not the kind of stuff to stand the test of time, one might have thought then.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />Kraftwerk released eight studio albums and one live compilation album in its time if one counts the fully electronic years. They had numerous hit singles, some of them going to become radio evergreens - like <b>The Model</b>, <b>The Robots</b>, <b>Showroom Dummies</b>, and <b>Trans-Europe Express</b>. My favorite albums of theirs are <b>Autobahn</b>, <b>The Man Machine</b>, <b>Radioactivity</b>, and <b>Trans-Europe Express</b>. <b>Minimum-Maximum</b> too is a must listen, if only to get a feel for their love for what they were doing. <br /><br />In the new millennium, with several personnel changes, Kraftwerk took the eight albums and turned them into a concert tour over multiple nights, calling it variously the 12345678 tour or The Catalogue tour.&nbsp; They added lasers and 3D to take the experience to a new level, along with stage props and concert arena innovations.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u08GWd540D0/WP-7LGrWMwI/AAAAAAAAF24/UAR_ImMC2_Q_slH4FRsOTbyAIvRKINfNgCEw/s1600/kraftwerk_trans_europe_express.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u08GWd540D0/WP-7LGrWMwI/AAAAAAAAF24/UAR_ImMC2_Q_slH4FRsOTbyAIvRKINfNgCEw/s320/kraftwerk_trans_europe_express.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trans Europe Express - by this time, Kraftwerk was already a celebrity act</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Like many of my generation, I have listened to their studio albums over and over again to the point you know every bar of music like the back of your hands. When you listen to the same tracks being performed live, you start realizing their creative mastery of the medium. You also start appreciating how much they enjoy performing the music that made them household names at a certain time. Added to that is the digital imagery and effects that adds another dimension to the concert experience.<br /><br />The value of their music can be guessed not only from the fact that they laid the grounds for an entire generation of musicians (<b>David Bowie</b>, <b>Duran Duran</b>, <b>Depeche Mode</b>, <b>Joy Division</b> - the list is long), but also that their body of multimedia work has been showcased at venues such as MoMA at New York, Tate Modern at London, Sydney Opera House to name a few. <br /><br />Fans will be pleased to know that a new live box set (both audio and video versions) is in the works, with 3D footage from their best performances at all of these arty venues. Scheduled for a May 26, 2017 release, <b><a href="http://amzn.to/2oHpgvu" target="_blank">3-D The Catalogue</a></b> presents live performances of all the eight albums in chronological order. For all who wondered if there would be a Ninth album, this is probably as close as it will get.<br /><br />If you have not heard Kraftwerk, I strongly encourage you to go to youtube and do a search for "kraftwerk live HD" and sample some of their work. <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/I3fWzwMmjnA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com0http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2017/04/kraftwerk-man-machine-autobahn-catalogue.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-52909505413470173712017-02-12T16:42:00.001-08:002017-02-12T21:42:41.627-08:00Music's Biggest Night 2017There are few things in life more pleasurable than complaining. For stuffy music lovers like me, the best time to do it is on Grammy night. I have been lamenting the death of serious music live and online on that day for the past several years, here and on <a href="https://twitter.com/subho65" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, only to be proven wrong every single time. <br /><br />Look at the irony of the times. 2016 hijacked the epithet of the year that music died with relentless additions to the list of musicians who made the great crossing. 2017 saw even the relevance of the phrase be defiled by tagging it to the Trump inauguration. Next you know, it will be applied to the recall of a mobile phone battery.&nbsp; <br /><br />Being a good gambler, here are my bets for the awards in the few categories that interest me any longer. Updated now with the winners as they roll in.<br /><br />Best Contemporary Instrumental Album - Culcha Vulcha (also strong contention from Steve Gadd's Way Back Home) (Went to Snarky Puppy)<br />Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album - Tossup between Fallen Angels and Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (This one was out before I woke up for the main event and went to Willie Nelson)<br />Best Pop Duo/Group Performance - Cheap Thrills (Sia) (Went to Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots, a great track too)<br />Album of the Year - Tossup between Lemonade and 25<br />Record of the Year - Tossup between Hello and Formation and 7 years<br />Best Alternative Music Album - Blackstar (Not just this, it picked up Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Recording Package, and Best Engineering as well. Kind of every category it was nominated in.)<br />Best World Music Album - Land of Gold Anoushka Shankar (Went to Yo-Yo Ma for Sing Me Home)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/fx16GTs4O7g" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com0http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2017/02/59th-grammy-awards-2017.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-18089677158991204562017-01-09T13:06:00.002-08:002017-01-09T13:06:51.208-08:00Peter Sarstedt (1941-2017): Where Do You Go To, My LovelyLike all good missionary schooled, brown tagged boys in the 70s, Tata and I spent much time and energy teaching ourselves how to hold chords on what everyone called a "Spanish guitar." Two of the very first songs we learned to play and sing were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unE8E581RMc" target="_blank">Papa by Paul Anka </a>and Where Do You Go To My Lovely by Peter Sarstedt. This morning, the news came through that Sarstedt had died.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bOFcdE6VwWs/WHP47flIjgI/AAAAAAAAFyY/yrFho8hAKzcEbT1eJC0NrerNP9-cUgnJQCLcB/s1600/sarstedt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bOFcdE6VwWs/WHP47flIjgI/AAAAAAAAFyY/yrFho8hAKzcEbT1eJC0NrerNP9-cUgnJQCLcB/s640/sarstedt.jpg" width="631" /></a></div><br />The last year saw some of the greatest minds in the field of contemporary music die. Some people called 2016 the year the music died, an allusion to <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2012/02/day-music-died.html" target="_blank">a great song about a great tragedy</a>. It also saw the second time in the history of the award that a singer-songwriter got the Nobel Prize for Literature. Yet through it all, <a href="http://subhorup.blogspot.in/2016/10/manju-dasgupta.html" target="_blank">this blog remained un-updated</a>. This morning, as I read the news, a million associations from childhood came flooding back, and now, at the end of the day, I decided to separate the wheat from the chaff and write why I will always think highly of this song and singer.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />Peter Sarstedt has often been referred to as a one hit wonder, and like most people, I have not heard him beyond the one song he is best known for. I learned more about him and his work from the news reports today than I did in all of my life. He released 14 albums in his lifetime, and two other songs made it to the UK charts. I had not heard those songs till now either. I also did not know that he wrote a follow-up to Where Do You Go To My Lovely, visiting Marie-Claire 20 years after the first song. We did know that he was born in India, and spent his early years in the tea estates of Darjeeling, studying at Victoria Boys School at Kurseong.<br /><br />Most of his other songs are typical of the times, sounding like something halfway between <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-beatles-remastered-2009-revolver.html" target="_blank">The Beatles</a> and The Beach Boys. A lot of them sound suspiciously like other better known pop songs of the decade. But his one great hit was something else. As a piece of writing, it is corny, manipulative and verging on contrived. Yet, it managed to endear itself in a very visceral way to our generation. More than the dolorous, waltzing, almost whiny, descending scale of Where Do You Go To My Lovely, what set the song apart for us teenagers was the litany of exotic references in the lyrics. Our exposure to the global cultural churn of the times came from reading Castaneda and Ayn Rand, from Blue Note liner notes and classifieds ads in Popular Mechanics, and from Sunday morning screenings of Woodstock at Metro cinema. And yes, Nondon Bagchi, Lew Hilt and friends. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/L8XQZYIiNgo/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L8XQZYIiNgo?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br />Sarstedt taught us how to pronounce Marlene Dietrich and Juan Le Pins, introduced us to St. Moritz and the Parisian latin quarters, and let us imagine the rush of being at Sorbonne or owning a Rolling Stones record collection. This was before the advent of television and most of these names and places, people and things in the song were unfamiliar yet strangely appealing to us young Bengali boys growing up in suburban Kolkata. All of this packaged in a rags to riches tale tinged with the sadness of lost love.&nbsp; It was the perfect song that resonated every time you heard it, and resonated even more every time you sang it.<br /><br />We believed (contrary what Sarstedt himself had to say) that the song was about Sophia Loren, and that she and he had a shared past that was a secret for everyone except us who heard and sang the song. The song soothed our bruised socialist hearts (we specialized in falling in love with "girls" who rapidly grew into unattainable paradigms of desirability, almost as if our loving them were the catalyst) and callused guitarist fingers (ah! the satisfaction of finally getting the great barre with the chord of F). The irony of knowing where you go to, my lovely, was like a vindication of our unexpressed, unrequited longing. Tata and I both survived all of that (many of our friends didn't) and went on to become "model citizens." Yeah, yeah, some people call us corporate whores. And, with a few changes here and there, this is the story of our entire generation. <br /><br />We went on to no longer having time to hold chords down on our guitars. To not really doing the things we dreamed we would. Instead of being the Sarstedts of our lives, we ended up being Marie-Claire. The good news is that we found people in our lives who really care, who help us remember just who we are, who know we still bear scars, and who can look inside our heads. And this is perhaps what makes the song and the singer so special to so many across time.<br /><br />For those who are not familiar with this timeless song, let me sign off, leaving you with the lyrics. RIP Peter Sarstedt!!<br /><br />You talk like Marlene Dietrich<br />And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire<br />Your clothes are all made by Balmain<br />And there`s diamonds and pearls in your hair<br />You live in a fancy appartement<br />Of the Boulevard of St. Michel<br />Where you keep your Rolling Stones records<br />And a friend of Sacha Distel<br />But where do you go to my lovely<br />When you're alone in your bed<br />Tell me the thoughts that surround you<br />I want to look inside your head<br />I've seen all your qualifications<br />You got from the Sorbonne<br />And the painting you stole from Picasso<br />Your loveliness goes on and on, yes it does<br />When you go on your summer vacation<br />You go to Juan-les-Pines<br />With your carefully designed topless swimsuit<br />You get an even suntan, on your back and on your legs<br />When the snow falls you're found in St. Moritz<br />With the others of the jet-set<br />And you sip your Napoleon Brandy<br />But you never get your lips wet<br />But where do you go to my lovely<br />When you're alone in your bed<br />Tell me the thoughts that surround you<br />I want to look inside your head, yes I do<br />Your name is heard in high places<br />You know the Aga Khan<br />He sent you a racehorse for chistmas<br />And you keep it just for fun, for a laugh haha<br />They say that when you get married<br />It'll be to a millionaire<br />But they don't realize where you came from<br />And I wonder if they really care, they give a damn<br />But where do you go to my lovely<br />When you're alone in your bed<br />Tell me the thoughts that surround you<br />I want to look inside your head<br />I remember the back streets of Naples<br />Two children begging in rags<br />Both touched with a burning ambition<br />To shake off their lowly brown tags, yes they try<br />So look into my face Marie-Claire<br />And remember just who you are<br />Then go and forget me forever<br />`Cause I know you still bear<br />the scar, deep inside, yes you do<br />I know where you go to my lovely<br />When you're alone in your bed<br />I know the thoughts that surround you<br />`Cause I can look inside your head<br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/DHKkVWW6akY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com1http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2017/01/peter-sarstedt-where-do-you-go-to-my-lovely.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-80482499120794492382014-04-22T19:32:00.000-07:002014-04-22T19:32:00.198-07:00Split Second CreativityMadhav Chari, perhaps India's most erudite jazz pianist, continues his exploration of jazz basics, this time looking at improvisation.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F0RLMdd3uzk/U1MxEYCcTsI/AAAAAAAAECc/IConhUMPMQQ/s1600/jazzimprovisation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F0RLMdd3uzk/U1MxEYCcTsI/AAAAAAAAECc/IConhUMPMQQ/s1600/jazzimprovisation.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div><br />One of the guiding features of Jazz is the process of improvisation, the creation of music in real time. In other words what a Jazz improviser does is compose music instantly, requiring a unique synthesis of mind, body, emotion and spirit, and a thorough knowledge of the Jazz music form.<br /><br />It sounds like magic. It is magic when the musicianship is outstanding, when the musicians on stage are reacting to each other and having a spontaneous dialogue with each other, within the parameters set by the music form. In India we already have instances of improvisation in Carnatic and Hindustani music.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />However Jazz music, more so than any other music form in the world, has taken the process of group improvisation to another level altogether. The organization of the group is more democratic, and closer to the ethos of American culture at large, which in spite of its flaws is still the most democratic culture on the globe. The performance of Jazz music on stage echoes this egalitarian perspective.<br /><br />Democracy in Jazz does not mean anarchy and chaos. It means that all individuals on stage have perspectives that are valid, but there is still organization within the music and the group, that does not make it into a free for all “I am expressing who I am no matter what anyone thinks” adolescent exercise. What it means is that the individuals on stage have to learn how to listen and listening is the most important foundation for improvisation. A true dialogue cannot exist without listening.<br /><br />Say you have four musicians on stage, a saxophonist, pianist, double bassist, and drummer. In the performance the saxophonist is the designated leader of the group. But in the course of the actual performance, any of the four musicians can become the lead improviser, and the other three have to support the leader according to the conventions of the music form. Who decides to lead arises from the ability to listen to each other. Occasionally the leader of the group may give cues that indicate the sequence of lead improvisations or certain sections that have to be played together.<br /><br />Also a lead improviser is fed by all or some of the musicians on stage, so it is not accurate to say that the other musicians serve as some sort of backing track to the lead improviser. Improvisation is a process of continuous dialogue with other musicians on stage within the conventions of Jazz music.<br /><br />When a musician improvises, it is actually erroneous to say that everything in the music is spontaneous and created instantly. Musicians learn the vocabulary, grammar and idiomatic nuances of Jazz music with technical expertise on their instrument, that becomes the foundation for the dialogue. This is similar to learning how to speak English with its idiomatic nuances and being able to spontaneously converse with a friend in real time on a topic of your choice.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ_XMSZXg1U/U1MxhMzve2I/AAAAAAAAECk/mAPp-nDqahE/s1600/albumcoverStanGetz-Serenity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ_XMSZXg1U/U1MxhMzve2I/AAAAAAAAECk/mAPp-nDqahE/s1600/albumcoverStanGetz-Serenity.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div><br />So schedule a relaxed evening at home after dinner with or without some friends on comfortable armchairs or couches, with a glass of wine, cognac or your favorite single malt, or any other liquid refreshment of your choice, and listen to two great recordings “Serenity” and “Anniversary”, recorded live on the same night in a Jazz club in Copenhagen over twenty years ago by the great saxophonist Stan Getz. The recordings also feature outstanding New York musicians Kenny Barron on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Victor Lewis on drums, and are models of spontaneous group interaction and good taste. Two hours of magical improvisation by some of the greatest Jazz masters is an evening you’ll never forget!<br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/87i-rur1xiM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com0http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/split-second-creativity-madhav-chari.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-2461192568302630732014-04-19T19:17:00.000-07:002014-04-19T19:19:27.940-07:00Regina Carter: Southern ComfortWhen you don’t do a nine to five week, you have to find ways to celebrate the common joys of deserving your sustenance. One of those is to keep track of long weekends and filling them with the kind of stuff you can share on your social media timelines. This long weekend , I had three pieces of musical goodies lined up – the complete Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013, The History of the Eagles and Regina Carter’s Southern Comfort. None of these were with the intention of writing about them or even drooling over in public. I started listening to Southern Comfort late this morning, and at first was just glad to partake in her new outing. As the tracks unfolded, I found myself journeying into the roots of American jazz, folk and country with a guide who was not only acutely contemporary in her sensibilities but one who flew her craft with the brazen delicacy of a Jedi warrior. Somewhere into the fourth track – Shoo-Rye, I knew I had to write about our shared love.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-REhTSjGApcQ/U1MtszTpfoI/AAAAAAAAECI/kRIfJYpRIoM/s1600/reginacarter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-REhTSjGApcQ/U1MtszTpfoI/AAAAAAAAECI/kRIfJYpRIoM/s1600/reginacarter.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div><br />The jazz violin is a strange place. Outside of bluegrass and country, it is dominated by giants like Jean Luc Ponty and Stephane Grappeli. The two violinists of recent times that have successfully taken the jazz violin out of their shadow are Regina Carter and the slightly older (and crazier) Nigel Kennedy on either side of the pond.&nbsp; Both of them straddle the worlds of classical, jazz, rock and whatever it is that you can call the music of today with a finesse that is at once shrewd and profound.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />Like Eric Clapton, Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock, Regina Carter has devoted the last several albums of hers to documenting the roots of modern music, be it that of Europe, America or Africa. This album picks up where she left off on her earlier albums, Motor City Moments, I’ll be Seeing You, and Reverse Thread and takes on landmarks of musical Americana. One would have thought it difficult to top the research and depth of Reverse Thread but with Southern Comfort, Regina Carter proves one wrong. The album artwork sets the tone for an exploration of her musical ancestry with a family tree and a picture of her coal-mining grandfather on his wedding day. This is the hand-clapping foot-stomping music of the American South and the Appalachians interpreted and engineered with the raw elegance that present day inquiries afford.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X6NYrSaZXMQ/U1Mt4ETS-HI/AAAAAAAAECQ/GT3HCBqShC0/s1600/Booklet-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X6NYrSaZXMQ/U1Mt4ETS-HI/AAAAAAAAECQ/GT3HCBqShC0/s1600/Booklet-1.jpg" height="316" width="640" /></a></div><br />While Reverse Thread showcased the hypnotic African roots of American music, Southern Comfort takes American music and highlights its forgotten historical beauty. Mostly traditional tunes, with a Hank Williams and Gram Parsons thrown in, the album is a veritable treat for musicologists and jazz lovers alike.&nbsp; It is almost impossible to list favorites since every track is a delight from every angle, but Shoo-Rye and Death Have Mercy are outstanding.&nbsp; I also loved the short but amazingly peppy take on Trampin’. Alvester Garnett on Drums and Jesse Murphy on Bass are pretty amazing throughout. Joe Ferla is to be commended too for the excellent engineering which makes the album an audiophile’s delight as well.<br /><br />While on Regina Carter, in addition to Reverse Thread, one cannot but mention her 2001 outing with Kenny Barron, which can at best be called a genre-defying recording and which has one of the finest jazz covers of Sting’s Fragile.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/WteR-O_sGkk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com0http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/regina-carter-southern-comfort.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-55564621716501822242014-04-15T21:51:00.002-07:002014-04-15T21:51:45.800-07:00The Bass GrooveThe double bass is a classical string instrument, traditionally played arco (with a bow). It entered jazz through the march band route, replacing the brass bass section (tuba, sousaphone, bass saxophone) to provide the bass line. Given the swing that was needed for jazz, it soon transformed itself into a pizzicato (plucked) instrument.&nbsp; Plucking styles evolved to include the slap and the bounce to keep up with the loudness of the rest of the band. The signature walking bass line that we identify the blues with developed very quickly, and by the 1930s, the upright bass was a standard fixture for most jazz bands. The fretted electric bass entered the scene in the 50s. The compositional and performance dynamics of the jazz trio (piano, bass and drums) brought the role of the bass into greater focus. In addition to clever solos, which is perhaps what most listeners identify it with, the bass plays a crucial role in helping the performance hold on to rhythm, structure and harmony. In this post, we explore the masters of the jazz bass.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-qKgcXjazE/U04MTm1RsKI/AAAAAAAAEBs/ODFsUB2k2I8/s1600/charles-mingus2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-qKgcXjazE/U04MTm1RsKI/AAAAAAAAEBs/ODFsUB2k2I8/s1600/charles-mingus2.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>The Pioneers</b><br /><br /><b>Jimmy Blanton</b> was the first to bring the bass up front from the 4/4 quarter note background of big bands. His style was a major contributor to the new sound of the Ellington band along with saxophonist <b>Ben Webster</b>.&nbsp; Ellington would later record a tribute album with <b>Ray Brown</b> (1973) called This One’s For Blanton. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8xJlV0Agi1w?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Jimmy Blanton Duke Ellington – Pitter Panther Patter (3:12)&nbsp;</div><br /><b>Leroy “Slam” Stewart</b> is overshadowed by his peers Blanton, LaFaro, Pettiford, primarily for the complexity of his classically trained style. He played solos in the arco style while scatting an octave higher.&nbsp;<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-0ypn2rWvFA?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />(1945) Slam Stewart Don Byas – I got Rhythm (5:00)<br /><br /><b>Scott LaFaro</b> performed for less than 6 years, and recorded for less than 3 years, but is one of the most flamboyant early bassists, turning comping into a melodic and rhythmic feast. He treated the bass like a guitar, without the blue collar gravity that most bassists of his time exuded.&nbsp; This track is from one of the greatest ever jazz sessions.&nbsp;<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/CuzZ8mV9Zh8?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(1961) Scott LaFaro Bill Evans Paul Motian – Alice in Wonderland (7:06)&nbsp;</div><br /><b>The Great Masters</b><br /><br /><b>Charles Mingus</b>’s formidable body of work places him among the great composers, bandleaders and bassists. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/yDIrDLaxfc0?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(1959) Charles Mingus – Cryin Blues (5:03)&nbsp;</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/0vUHaSB1adI?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(1962) Ellington Mingus Roach – Fleurette Africaine (3.36)</div><br /><b>Ray Brown</b> was the bass groove behind much of <b>Oscar Peterson</b>, <b>Dizzy Gillespie</b> and <b>Ella Ftizgerald</b> that you can hear (he was married to Ella between ’47 and ‘52). His work spans over five decades and collaborations with masters from across eras and genres. Here he performs with another great bassist, <b>John Clayton</b>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/QDHPK4IghA4?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(1994) Ray Brown John Clayton – Five O’clock Whistle (5:13)&nbsp;</div><br /><b>Ron Carter</b> is the godfather of the jazz bass if there ever was one. He builds upon his richly detailed pure and brilliant sound with melodic and technical innovation that is unrivaled. He has over 2500 albums to his credit, and is one of the architects of the second <b>Miles Davis</b> Quintet (Davis, Shorter, Hancock, Williams, Carter) <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xPwp6YsraZw?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(1984) Ron Carter – Willow Weep For Me (7:17) </div><br /><b>Dave Holland</b> was Miles’ bass sound for three years after he replaced <b>Ron Carter</b> in 1968. Precision, power, and technique define his work. Like Miles, he too was a great experimenter and collaborator, working on many of the newer sounds that were to emerge from the 80s onwards.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HHu6rzmUvFI?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(1993) Dave Holland –Mr. P.C.&nbsp; (3:38)&nbsp;</div><br /><b>New Directions</b><br /><br /><b>Steve Swallow</b> was among the first to switch over entirely to the electric bass. He interprets cool and hard bop, fusion and avant garde with equal ease. His most endearing collaboration has to be with <b>Carla Bley</b>, his partner and bandmate.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/alSUKjh33lw?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Steve Swallow Carla Bley Duet (5:00)&nbsp;</div><br /><b>Esperanza Spalding</b> won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011, the first jazz musician to win it ever. She performed at the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize concert. She topped the Google trends as most searched for person in February 2010. Her influence, interest and style straddle time and sensibilities. An artist to keep an eye out for.&nbsp;<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/qvBUgJhaASA?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(2010) Esperanza Spalding – Endangered Species (5:09)&nbsp;</div><br /><b>Marcus Miller</b> is a multi-instrument player, classical trained as a clarinetist. He is best known for his bass work with <b>Miles Davis</b> and <b>Herbie Hancock</b>. Here he interprets a <b>Weather Report</b> classic.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/eY9zhFIx2p4?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Marcus Miller – Teen Town (4:56)&nbsp;</div><br /><b>Jaco Pastorius</b> grew up in the world of fusion, free jazz, and collaborations. It was also the time that the greatest of guitar work was being crafted in the world of rock.&nbsp; His experimentation with the electric sound, distortion, harmonics and technique have overshadowed his musical genius, but perhaps the fact that one cannot talk about jazz bass without referring to him is an indicator of his greatness. He is best remembered for his work with Weather Report, an electric fusion band fronted by <b>Joe Zawinul</b> and <b>Wayne Shorter</b>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/i8q6sR6yZCE?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(1978) Weather Report – Birdland (6:48)&nbsp;</div><br />I hope you enjoyed reading and listening to this post as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Bassists that I could not cover here but are essential listening would include <b>Oscar Petttiford</b>, <b>Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen</b>, <b>Paul Chambers</b> among the pioneers, and <b>Charlie Haden</b>, <b>Christian McBride</b> and <b>Gary Peacock</b> from the great masters. Among contemporary bassists, <b>Stanley Clarke</b> and <b>Victor Wooten </b>are must listens.<br /><br />This post is based on notes prepared for a jazz appreciation series for the Hyderabad Western Music Foundation. <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/G0-aTMfwHes" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com1http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-bass-in-jazz.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-21636704574541504432014-02-07T20:15:00.002-08:002014-02-07T20:15:32.450-08:00Jazz in FilmsThe main problem with portraying Jazz music on film is one of authenticity: is the film authentic to the spirit of Jazz music, including the life of Jazz musicians, the context in which they operated, and most importantly the specific music that they created.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hr8wJeqoih8/UvWu_oQRFuI/AAAAAAAADzI/iEvIaNcHtBg/s1600/ken_burns_jazz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hr8wJeqoih8/UvWu_oQRFuI/AAAAAAAADzI/iEvIaNcHtBg/s1600/ken_burns_jazz.jpg" height="124" width="320" /></a></div><br />There are four types of films: one is a straightforward audio-video recording of a Jazz concert, but in general we do not get much information about the life of the musician and the context in which they lived their music. The second is a fictional approach to Jazz, presenting the lead character as a Jazz musician, and telling a compelling story, for example the film ’Round Midnight&nbsp; by French director Bertrand Tavernier. The third is a fictional biography where the director takes liberties with the main character in order to tell an engaging story, for example Bird based on the life of Jazz legend Charlie Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood. The fourth is a straightforward documentary film, and there are many such documentaries on Jazz music, and the most ambitious is Jazz: A Film By Ken Burns, a 10 part documentary that is 19 hours long.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />None of the four genres of films fully do justice to Jazz music, its culture, and the human element of the musicians. So depending on your own predilection, I would suggest starting with any one of these three films and making your way to the others as time permits.<br /><br />’Round Midnight stars Jazz legend Dexter Gordon, playing an expatriate African American Jazz musician who leaves the US for Paris in the 1950s for greener pastures (Gordon did this too in the early 60s). It is clear that the director Bertrand Tavernier has passion and knowledge for Jazz, and he features many well known Jazz musicians in the movie including Herbie Hancock. The film won a best actor Oscar nomination for Dexter Gordon, and an Oscar for Hancock for the movie score.<br /><br />Bird in terms of pacing is a more decidedly upbeat affair, and Forest Whitaker is an excellent actor: the main problem with this film is that the character is actually not that close to the actual Charlie Parker, and is some sort of caricature of the real deal. It is also historically quite off the mark in the sense that you do not know about why Parker became so great, the complexity of his character, and the unique relationships he had with other musicians that was crucial to his own creations. What you see is a “typical child like autistic genius” who needs to be monitored by his white American adult wife, and some dramatic flashbacks. Problematic though as the film is, it might be worth a viewing just once, and you can move to other films.<br /><br />The relatively recent Ken Burns documentary mainly focuses on Jazz music from its inception to the 1960s using Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington as the main musical examples that enter the story as the film rolls along the decades. While I find the conscious omission of crucial Jazz musicians who kept the music alive from 1960 – 1980 troubling, Ellington and Armstrong ARE the pillars on which Jazz music rests. I like to see the film especially for the informed comments of musicians such as Wynton Marsalis and intellectuals Stanley Crouch and Albert Murray. Also the film connects Jazz with America, and this is important.<br /><br />Try any of these three offerings on film, and see for yourself how you connect to Jazz music: you just might connect to the music a little stronger, in which case the films have done their main job in my opinion!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">*****</div><br />This is a continuation of the series of articles gifted by Madhav Chari, the eminent Jazz pianist and educator. His audio CD, <a href="http://www.landmarkonthenet.com/parisian-thoroughfares-by-madhav-chari-music-99920833527-3887703/" target="_blank">Parisian Thoroughfares, is available from Landmark On The Net</a>.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/P15fgazMRjc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com0http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2014/02/jazz-in-films.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-5980431605458756032014-01-22T08:04:00.002-08:002014-01-22T15:53:52.226-08:00Money Jungle: Ellington, Mingus, Roach, and now Terri Lyne CarringtonThis post has been on my mind for a while, and with the Grammy drawing close and an increasing likelihood of <b>Terri Lyne Carrington</b>’s re-interpretation stealing the show, I realize it is time. It is time for other reasons too. <b>Money Jungle</b>, the album turned 50 years old last year, and is easily one of the recordings that every jazz lover should have in his collection. Featuring <b>Duke Ellington</b> with the much younger bassist <b>Charles Mingus</b> and drummer <b>Max Roach</b>, this album is a coming together of masters from different eras, masters with huge egos and reputations, the end result of which could easily have been disastrous but turns out to be exceptional. Ellington is the undisputed king of swing, Roach is rooted in bebop, while Mingus is a post-bop free jazz icon who challenged the very definitions of blues and hard bop.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKMK750YtoE/Ut_rRtMGtNI/AAAAAAAADxw/EOvgcTfwALI/s1600/money_jungle_ellington_mingus_roach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKMK750YtoE/Ut_rRtMGtNI/AAAAAAAADxw/EOvgcTfwALI/s1600/money_jungle_ellington_mingus_roach.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div><br />The album was recorded on September 17, 1962, with no rehearsals, and sheet music that only outlined basic melody and harmony, with a visual descriptive cue from Ellington. For example, Ellington describes a track as "crawling around on the streets are serpents who have their heads up; these are agents and people who have exploited artists. Play that along with the music." This was the first time that the three musicians played together, having met to discuss the project only the day before. There have been three major releases of the album, the LP in 1963 featuring seven tracks, a 1987 CD release by Blue Note with six additional tracks from the session, arranged in the order they were recorded, and a 2002 remaster with eight additional tracks, with the original seven tracks in the original order at the start of the album.&nbsp; My personal favorite is the 2002 release, since it allows you to experience the album as the trio had envisioned it, as well as having a clearer drum track. The session itself has some folklore around it, with Mingus walking out, only to be coaxed back by Ellington.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />I consider the album important for a number of reasons. The foremost reason is that this is the only recording of these three masters together. Ellington was at the peak of his career, and his decision to do a trio with the two must have been a difficult one. In addition, it was a meeting of eras in playing style as well as age. Ellington was 63, Mingus 40, and Roach 38. Mingus and Roach had both carved out their places in the evolution of jazz, and when the three played together, unrehearsed, it was almost like a battle of the kings. Ellington had successfully traversed decades of jazz history at the time, and was at the forefront of the big band movement and this was his moment to reassert his modernity. If Mingus had a guru, and if Mingus carried any legacy, it was Ellington’s. The two had briefly worked together 10 years before this recording, but Mingus’ (in)famous temper resulted in his becoming one of the three musicians ever to have been fired by Ellington. So in some senses, it was a meeting of the acclaimed Guru and the spited disciple. Roach on the other hand had already been recognized for his work on developing snare styles that gave more room to soloists to work along with.<br /><br />The aggression and the battle of wits can heard all through the album, with Ellington playing with an angularity and dissonance never heard before in his work, and Mingus at his belligerent best, almost leading the act. Roach is at his best too, popping and splashing, adding an almost symphonic, poly-rhythmic quality to the percussion. Yet through it all, the session comes through as a integrated whole, showcasing all that jazz is, a real time improvisational collaboration. If you are reading this, it is likely that you have heard the album, but in case you have not, I suggest you hear it right away to get a feel for what I am talking about.<br /><br />When I heard that Terri Lyne Carrington was doing a re-interpretation of the album, I was honestly not prepared for what I was going to hear. First off, it is difficult to imagine a re-interpretation of the album. The tracks by themselves have been interpreted by many, but the energy of the album is something that one imagines is impossible to recreate. A re-interpretation, if I might say so, sounds like heresy. Secondly, I had heard Terri Lyne Carrington only on the Herbie Hancock albums that she played on, and to my mind, she was more academic than creative. Thirdly, the only complete album of hers that I had heard was the 2009 More To Say, and I had found it too "modern" and "smooth" for my liking. All three of these preconceptions were severely, severely challenged when I heard Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yHee-3y-164/Ut_rRnIiW6I/AAAAAAAADx8/EzeRmWoV_2c/s1600/terri-lyne-carrington-money-jungle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yHee-3y-164/Ut_rRnIiW6I/AAAAAAAADx8/EzeRmWoV_2c/s1600/terri-lyne-carrington-money-jungle.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div><br />Recorded to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original release, it is totally a new experience. She interprets it from a totally contemporary perspective, along with <b>Gerald Clayton</b> (who is up for a Grammy in the same category with his album <i>Life Forum</i>) and <b>Christian McBride </b>(also nominated in the same category for his trio album <i>Out Here</i>). If you are familiar with the original, this album is a treat on every listen, since it is so unpredictable, so modern, and blends urban styles so seamlessly with the compositions. It generously uses voice and the spoken word to generate an altogether new dimension to the core artistic message of the original session. A few of the original tracks are replaced by new compositions, though careful listening reveals many melodic references in these new tracks to the tracks they replace. The album also features a large number of guest performers, <b>Clark Terry</b>, <b>Robin Eubanks</b>, <b>Tia Fuller</b>, <b>Antonio Hart</b>, <b>Nir Felder</b>, <b>Arturo Stabile</b> and vocalists <b>Shea Rose</b> and <b>Lizz Wright</b>. The last track of the album, one of the prettiest, has Shea Rose reading Ellington’s beautiful poem, Music Is My Mistress (if you have not read this, please do so at the earliest, and keep your gender sensitivity aside while you do so), and <b>Herbie Hancock</b> closing the track with Ellington’s quotes about society, money, art and popularity. A true treat for jazz lovers regardless of whether you are familiar with the source material or not.<br /><br />A post on these two albums would be incomplete without a comment on the brilliant percussion work by Terri Lyne Carrington. She takes the quiet brilliance of the drum work on the original to an altogether new level, with a clean, urban sound that not only captures Roach’s syncopal complexity but transcends it. And that, along with the fact that this is a truly significant and original piece of work in spite of being a reinterpretation and a tribute, is no small feat to accomplish.<br /><br />I truly hope that this album gets the recognition it deserves. Will be keeping my fingers crossed during the awards announcements.<br /><br />I have deliberately stayed away from analyzing the tracks, either from the original or from this tribute album, since I feel you deserve to enjoy it as it rolls out from your changer. I would love to know what you think of it when you do listen - especially if you are a jazz purist.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/y1mYahRJIaw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com2http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2014/01/money-jungle-ellington-migus-roach-terri-lyne-carrington-grammy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-12810478178656710172013-12-12T19:56:00.000-08:002013-12-12T19:58:15.811-08:00It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)Madhav Chari continues his series on understanding jazz by recollecting an incident to help define swing. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">***** </div>There is a common misconception that Jazz music is not easily accessible to a general audience. I mean an English speaking audience from urban India with at least some tiny exposure to elements of western music. Even Bollywood music has elements of western music: this level of exposure is enough to enjoy Jazz music.<br />The misconception is rooted in two obvious causes: recorded music and live performances. Much of the music labeled as Jazz either by the press in India, recording industry, or by many musicians, is actually NOT Jazz music, but music incorrectly labeled as Jazz music. Live performances either of the so called Jazz legends of India in Mumbai, considered the premier Jazz center of India, or even by some foreign musicians sent by consulate organizations, can be extremely insipid, and almost always not connected to the actual energies of Jazz music.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dbxp5OqVhys/UqqFK2zdXFI/AAAAAAAADHI/kZaAr4_CEAk/s1600/basie_sinatra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dbxp5OqVhys/UqqFK2zdXFI/AAAAAAAADHI/kZaAr4_CEAk/s400/basie_sinatra.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Count Basie and Frank Sinatra</td></tr></tbody></table><br />My own belief is that Jazz music played well, can communicate to this very same English speaking urban Indian audience. But the issue is quality, and the energy of the music has to connect with the Jazz of the past masters of the music. In particular the music has to “swing”.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />Swing is an energy carried by the rhythm in Jazz music, and has the ability to make you tap your feet to the music. No intellectual understanding is necessary to feel swing. Every great Jazz master was, and is, a master of swing.<br /><br />Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to conduct a Jazz workshop at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). The students who attended the workshop were mainly women in their early 20s, and none listened to Jazz music in any depth, some were not even familiar with the term “Jazz”. A lot of them were consumers of Indian pop culture, and most had definitely listened to Bollywood.<br /><br />Just ten minutes before the start of the workshop, the classroom was almost full. My assistant Melvin Ranjan and I wanted to find some background music on his laptop to warm up the audience before we started the actual session. We wanted to find some Jazz that was swinging.<br /><br />Not much music was on the laptop, and we quickly found a recording of guitarist Alan Holdsworth: definitely not swinging, but plenty of fast notes, intricate drumming, and in my own opinion the sort of guitar player that could appeal to a rock music audience.<br /><br />Unfortunately the audience did not respond with their bodies to this music, in fact we felt that the energy in the room was a bit dead. We needed to find some new music fast.<br /><br />With some quick searching and luck, we found a wonderful recording of the great pianist-composer Count Basie, probably recorded in the late 1930s or early 40s. The moment we switched to this recording, there was a complete change in the energy of the audience: you could see all the young women in the front row tapping their feet to the music, even if they were sending an SMS to their friends or talking with each other. We could also see bodies slightly swaying with the music across the room.<br /><br />This completely vindicated my assumption that good quality Jazz that swings hard and with emotional intensity, has the ability to communicate to a lay audience, even if the audience has not been exposed to Jazz music.<br /><br />So how does one start listening to Jazz music? I recommend the lovely recordings “We Get Requests” by the great pianist Oscar Peterson, or “Atomic Basie” by the great pianist bandleader Count Basie. After that, just listen and feel the music!<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/NfL3uH0d0S4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com1http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2013/12/it-dont-mean-thing-if-it-aint-got-that.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-199410692734947642013-09-20T09:08:00.000-07:002013-09-20T09:08:52.250-07:00Jazz and The Beatles<br />The Beatles by themselves have little reason to figure in any jazz purists’ collection, yet most of us find more than a handful of Beatles songs tucked away in albums by artists as varied as <b>Ella Fitzgerald</b>, <b>Benny Goodman</b>, <b>Wes Montgomery</b> and <b>Brad Mehldau</b>. One of the reasons for this is, of course, their rising popularity at the same time that bop and free jazz were at their innovative best. The other has to be the appeal of the songs themselves. The Beatles songwriting engine was taking everything they came across and melting them into a totally new, simple, universally appealing sound.<br /><br />There have been a few scholarly attempts to find jazz in <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-beatles-remastered-2009-revolver.html" target="_blank">The Beatles</a>. This is not one of them, since it was not like they were not listening to jazz or were not aware of the developments in the world of jazz, but that they chose to play rock &amp; roll, and some about of rhythm &amp; blues. This post is a celebration of The Beatles and of Jazz, independently, and of how <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2013/03/history-of-global-jazz.html" target="_blank">they speak to each other</a>. Opinions are mine, and you are free to disagree. Do use the comments to initiate of participate in a dialog. <br /><br /><h3><b>What The Beatles Heard</b> </h3>Finding The Beatles in jazz is not only easier, but as mentioned earlier, almost inevitable. In this post, we look at what The Beatles were listening to, what they played, and what jazz made of them. Though their formative years coincided with the boom period of modern jazz, there is little to suggest that they were listening to anything other than the new sound of rock and roll and rhythm and blues. But these forms themselves were born out of jazz, out of the blues, and out of the beat driven three-chord structures of American popular music.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/lNeEb7I3bwI?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />The Beatles grew up in a musical world dominated by the likes of <b>Chuck Berry</b>, <b>Little Richard</b>, and of course, <b>Elvis Presley</b>. Chuck Berry was among the first to turn his stage presence into a part of the performance. Little Richards, the R&amp;B superstar, never strayed too far from his gospel roots, and even switched entirely over to gospel at the peak of his career, only to return to R&amp;B again.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/jqxNSvFMkag?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />Elvis, on the other hand, was doing the white man blues like no one had done it before, a mix of rebellion and sensuality that was hard to resist. The Beatles could not help modelling themselves on the King in terms of image, stage presence, and of course, song content and structure. It would take them a couple of years to break out of the Elvis image. This next clip is from one of those films where you clapped and shrieked in the movie theater. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZOwo1BSjJ8A?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />The other major influence on the music of The Beatles was Buddy Holly. <b>Elvis</b>, <b>Bill Haley</b> and <b>Buddy Holly </b>were the main forces responsible for the creation of a white audience for black rhythm and blues music. Holly died in a plane crash in 1959 at 26 years, an event memorialized as <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/02/day-music-died.html" target="_blank">the day the music died</a>. Just as the blues brought the guitar into the forefront, Buddy Holly standardized the guitar band for rock. Valley of Tears is a Fats Domino song that is an unusual departure from Buddy Holly’s usual style, showing up on the second of the three albums he released in his lifetime.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/D8VcpXp14Wk?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><br /><h3><b>Jazz in The Beatles</b></h3>Now we move on to a few examples of the jazz sensibility that can be found in the music of The Beatles. I have tried to stay away from the common instances of Yer Blues and Dear Prudence in order to showcase the fact that the fab four were actually listening to and being influenced by the jazz around them as they went about creating their body of music.<br /><br />Many casual listeners of Beatles might not have heard You Know My Name. It is a B-Side from the avant garde/experimental period of Let it Be, and if we can move ahead to about 4.30 on the video, we can hear some unusual <b>Beatles jazz</b>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/j-TWLSliZ-U?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />I’m So Tired (1968) is a song written in India from the Maharishi period. Very simple flowing melody, very basic chordal structure, but you can hear interesting concepts like a continuously descending bass-line, a hard to detect syncopated beat on the chorus, that speak of a great deal of compositional thoughtfulness.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Tu2eZpA4yo?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />And finally, a contemporary track, this one is a contemporary recording by <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.in/2010/10/mccartney-band-on-run-deluxe.html" target="_blank"><b>Paul McCartney</b></a>, whose recent album, Kisses on the Bottom, is really a tribute to the music that he grew up listening to. While the album won him the Grammy for The Best Traditional Pop Album, it debuted and stayed at the No 1 position on the Billboard Jazz charts.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Gw5Fh4I1yI?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><h3><b>Beatles in Jazz&nbsp;</b></h3><br />Jazz greats have played Beatles so widely that it is hard to put together a playlist that will satisfy all. So what I have done here is let go of the obvious giants and focus on interpretation in the hope that it might introduce you to new perspectives on this relationship of <b>Jazz and The Beatles</b>. A few interesting things came up as I was compiling this list. The first is the obvious ease with which Beatles tracks lent themselves to jazz interpretations. The second is the fact that many of these covers are from weeks and months from their original release. This tells me that jazz artistes were following the music of The Beatles very, very closely. Anyway, on to the music.<br /><br /><b>Ramsey Lewis</b> released <b>Mother Nature’s Son</b>, his collection of Beatles covers back in 1968, and it is obvious he took them seriously. <b>A Hard Day’s Night</b> is one of the biggest hits of all times, and Ramsey Lewis adds an extra dose of swing to it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-KvgVQgZsrY?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><b>Benny Goodman</b> not only performed and recorded as a classical clarinetist with the likes of <b>Bernstein</b>, <b>Stravinsky</b> and <b>Bartok</b>, but also was responsible for reviving modern interest in classical clarinet by commissioning several of the modern standards of our times. Here you can hear him do a New-Orleansy cover of one of the rare <b>Ringo</b> compositions - <b>Octopus’s Garden</b>.&nbsp; This is from 1969.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/Z-uPU0lo_rg/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/Z-uPU0lo_rg&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/Z-uPU0lo_rg&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br /><b>Something</b> is acknowledged by many as the greatest Beatles love songs. Though <b>Shirley Bassey</b> cannot be strictly called a jazz artiste, this particular cover showcases her improvisational skills. For those of you who enjoy her style, you may want to look at how she has interpreted this particular song over the years. This Harrison composition is also the most covered Beatles song after Yesterday.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/i2TLDUKQE94?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />The Beatles created a sound that defined rock and roll so acutely for years to come that it is easy to overlook at their compositional adventures. <b>Harrison</b> songs like <b>Only a Northern Song</b> or <b>Savoy Truffle </b>reflects a sensibility that goes far beyond mainstream rock. <b>Ella Fitzgerald</b>’s version of Savoy Truffle makes you realize how jazzy the song really is.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9KmvANzwRWk?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><b>Eleanor Rigby</b> is one of the few tracks where the Beatles did not play any instruments and recorded to the backing of a string ensemble. Written by McCartney but credited to both Paul and John, the song has inspired many jazz performers to do their interpretation.&nbsp; Here is <b>Wes Montgomery</b> doing his version of it. I will be featuring another version of this song later in the post.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/EZa3Supq79Y?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><b>Come Together</b> is one of the more covertly political songs of The Beatles and it has been a favorite cover track for artistes as varied as <b>Diana Ross</b> and <b>Guns N Roses</b>.&nbsp; I would strongly recommend that you look up the origin and subtext of this song for yourself. This is a fun version of it by <b>Count Basie</b>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/cRnDSy2PPIA?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />Structurally Come Together is a major deviation from the rock and roll songwriting standards of the time. This version showcases how well it lends to improvisation. And incidentally, this act was a discovery as I was looking around the music that has been part of this post.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/YW33W0QJ8Ts?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />Though <b>Jaco Pastorius</b>’s Live at NYC album has an electrifying (and much more popular) fretless solo version of the classic <b>Blackbird</b>, here is a version with <b>Toots Thielman</b>, <b>Herbie Hancock</b> and <b>Wayne Shorter</b> backing him up on the <b>Word of Mouth</b> album.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zd6DTRywF7Q?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><b>Chick Corea</b>, <b>Joe Zawinul</b> and <b>John McLaughlin</b> were part of the amazing <b>Bitches Brew</b> experiment of <b>Miles Davis</b> at the same time that the Beatles were at the peak of their fame. Corea straddles the worlds of funk, jazz, rock and avant garde with an ease all his own. <b>Gary Burton</b> is a vibes pioneer who is most famous for heralding the four mallet technique, turning the vibes into a much more versatile frontman instrument. Both are intrepid collaborators, and this track is an example of what the Beatles can sound like in their hands.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RmzrfKGzfw4?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />The Beatles continue to remain a top favorite for contemporary jazz improvisation. I hope this post has helped you find threads that connect the two seemingly different worlds. Let me leave you with a performer who it is difficult to do a Beatles and jazz playlist without. <b>Brad Mehldau</b> has a Beatles track in almost every album of his in addition to his live shows. His versions of <b>Dear Prudence</b> and <b>Blackbird</b> are masterpieces. As is this rendition of <b>Martha My Dear</b>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xacKlTxQ2R8?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><br />Do let me know what you thought of this post, which was built out of the notes for a talk on <b>The Beatles and Jazz</b> for <a href="http://www.hydmusic.com/" target="_blank">The Hyderabad Western Music Foundation</a> (HWMF). The HWMF organizes fortnightly music appreciation sessions at Lamakaan which are open to all. Do look them up and drop by.<br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/GZBSaB7N_fM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com8http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-beatles-and-jazz.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-8227432061064468672013-09-10T06:01:00.002-07:002013-09-10T18:25:57.980-07:00Good MedicineMy <a href="http://subhorup.blogspot.com/2012/05/brief-history-of-blues-music.html" target="_blank">post on the <b>history of the blues</b></a> led to a stimulating and insightful dialog with my friend, <b>Madhav Chari</b>. Chari is not only one of the finest jazz pianists of our times, but also carries with him a deep commitment to jazz education. When I asked him if I could reproduce our dialog in the form of a post on this blog, he gifted me a set of articles instead. So it is my greatest pleasure to introduce this series of posts by guest blogger Madhav Chari. Enjoy!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XOjJ-BWYT0k/Ui8WdSEOlTI/AAAAAAAACx8/T8s9TuMMMh4/s1600/funny_note.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XOjJ-BWYT0k/Ui8WdSEOlTI/AAAAAAAACx8/T8s9TuMMMh4/s200/funny_note.png" width="178" /></a></div><br />“Ev’ry day, ev’ry day I have the blues.<br />Ev’ry day, ev’ry day I have the blues.<br />When you see me worry baby, ’cause it’s you I hate to lose”.<br /><br />The great Jazz singer <b>Joe Williams </b>sang these lyrics with the <b>Count Basie</b> orchestra in the classic recording “Count Basie Swings Joe Williams Sings”.<br /><br />There is a misconception that blues music is sad, melancholy, and perpetually prone to depression. In the western world, primarily America, the “blues” refers to a range of emotions that include sadness, melancholy, depression, the general feeling of being down and out, and weighed down with the world. Blues lyrics even carry these messages.<br /><br />But blues music is not “blues” as in emotionally feeling low: singers use a wide range of emotions to tell a story, and if the only story they communicated musically was one of sadness, the music would get tiring very soon.<br /><br />Blues music is music that “gets rid of the blues”, in other words it is that type of music that keeps the blues away, music that is good medicine to cure you when you get the blues.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/L31pDORVifQ?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />When Jazz musicians “swing the blues”, they are addressing a type of attitude here that is tongue and cheek, even when the lyrics might be sad they may sing it with a certain flair that connotes anything but sadness, and by swinging the blues we mean performing blues music with the un-definable yet strongly perceived rhythmic push that undergirds much of Jazz music. It also reflects an attitude that if something is terrible, the way to deal with it is a state of certain nonchalance and a positive attitude, certainly a state of elegance while confronted with adversity.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />The blues is one of the four fundamental aesthetic elements of Jazz music, along with swing, afro-Hispanic rhythms and the romantic to meditative ballad. Any truly great Jazz musician has to address the blues, and put a unique stamp on their performance of the blues while simultaneously addressing the tradition, including musicians like <b>Louis Armstrong</b>, <b>Duke Ellington</b>, <b>Charlie Parker</b> and today <b>Wynton Marsalis</b>.<br /><br />By great Jazz musicians we clearly do not mean some fad promoted by many Jazz critics writing for the bulk of magazines bearing a reference to Jazz music, whose knowledge of western culture and intellectual depth is suspect, and their knowledge of Jazz music is quite pitiful. It is also not some current academic fashion that seeks to “improve” or “extend” Jazz with its theoretical framework of music, where they reveal through their attempts at theory that they are no more than frustrated mathematicians. Neither is it some sort of proto-nationalism that seeks some pretence of authenticity by constantly harping on the “soulfulness” and apparent connection of all non European derived cultures of the world including Black Americans and non-western cultures from Asia or Africa. But Europeans are human too, so they do not have a soul?<br /><br />In other words the blues is really not about a theory of progress within Jazz music whether it comes from “globalization”, “modernity”, “21st century capitalism”, “<a href="http://subhorup.blogspot.com/2013/07/jazz-music-history-online-around-the-world.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cultural anthropology</a>”, “political science”, “spirituality” or “sociology”.<br /><br />It is about a range of feelings communicated through a musical language that seemingly looks simple on the outside if one only considered music to be a “formal exercise”, but in reality the language is nuanced and deep enough to tell many stories, and communicate to people across the globe. In short, it talks about humanity at large through the music.<br /><br />Start listening to the blues, and you will soon discover that this music is for everyone who is willing to be open to it.<br /><br />[This series of articles was originally written for the now defunct Spiceway&nbsp; magazine.]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/NbCxWCau92Q" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com0http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2013/09/blues-madhav-chari.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-11910441760390627122013-03-31T00:06:00.000-07:002013-03-31T00:09:04.725-07:00Jazz: The Language of the Heart The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Jazz is that it is an all American artform. The second is that it is joyous, swingy, funky, recreational music, the kind that you can play in the background while you tend to your accounts, whatever they may be. While the roots of jazz extend across the globe, from the darkness of Africa to the cool chic of the European renaissance, from the folk forms of the Mexicans &amp; native American Indians to the microtonalities of India &amp; middle east, it was the American circumstance that threw all these into ingredients into one cauldron &amp; brought it to a boil. And it is joyous celebrant music, since it really is the expression of the strength needed to overcome the struggle of daily life &amp; turn even the harshest of social persecutions into a reason to rejoice.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GKA1Pl-lzKg/UVfg_BaDHFI/AAAAAAAACfg/1SEb7KVcSJc/s1600/harlem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="432" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GKA1Pl-lzKg/UVfg_BaDHFI/AAAAAAAACfg/1SEb7KVcSJc/s640/harlem.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Today’s listening post is about looking at jazz differently. Jazz is largely a comment on social inequity, hypocrisy &amp; discrimination. However, instead of being a messenger of gloom, jazz turns it into a uniquely participative art form, one that engages you &amp; demands your attention, you accounts be damned. This playlist is meant to nudge you into thinking about where we come from &amp; where we are headed as a civilization. Playing time: 60 minutes. <br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><b>Part 1: Roots&nbsp;</b><br /><br />a) This song was declared as the song of the Century by TIME in its 1999 millennium list. This version has two of the brightest stars of two different genres coming together. <b>Sting</b>, with the <b>Gil Evans Band</b> at the <b>Perugia Jazz Festival</b>, singing Strange Fruit, a song about lynching. Enjoy the lyrics. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKfELe-gizs" target="_blank">Click here to watch on Youtube</a>.<br /><br />Southern trees bear a strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves &amp; blood at the root,<br />Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.<br />Pastoral scene of the gallant south,/ The bulging eyes &amp; the twisted mouth,<br />Scent of magnolias, sweet &amp; fresh,/ Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.<br />Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, / For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,<br />For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,/ Here is a strange &amp; bitter crop.<br /><br />b) Jazz really started out as a way to interpret &amp; cope with the oppression of discrimination in the American South, &amp; once the railroads were in place, it caught the train &amp; came to the cities &amp; the coasts. And it came in many guises, as the blues, as dance music, as popular song, &amp; as bop. Each of these avatars cross bred &amp; gave birth to countless subgenres. This is one of the more electrifying performances of the all time <b>Gershwin </b>classic, <b>Summertime</b>, by one of the iconic women of rock, <b>Janis Joplin</b>, live in Stockholm, 1969.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mzNEgcqWDG4?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br />c) Jazz did not just restrict itself to the social environment. Much of the greatest jazz you will ever hear is about deeply personal politics – about love, loss &amp; longing. Here is a 1933 tune made famous by many down the years, <b>Cry Me a River</b>, sung by <b>Ella Fitzgerald</b> for whom it was originally written, accompanied by <b>Joe Pass</b>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/jAoABuJS1MA?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><br />d) The history of Jazz through the 40s and 50s has already been covered in detail in previous sessions, so let us jump over Ellington, Monk, Charlie Parker, Coltrane, and Charles Mingus to where Jazz began being adopted by the world. Musicians like Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, &amp; Chick Correa (to name a few) were bringing global influences into modern jazz sensibilities &amp; giving birth to an entirely new genre – Fusion or World Jazz. Not only did it infuse jazz with refreshing new syntax &amp; phrasing, it also took jazz to audiences &amp; musicians that were not familiar with it, &amp; opened doors that no one could have imagined existed. As we step out of the shadow of bebop and swing to a new world, here is a tribute to three of the many pioneers who turned Jazz into a truly universal language. Playing together in 1983, <b>Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter &amp; Billy Cobham</b> – <b>Eye of the Hurricane</b>. <a href="http://youtu.be/6SgFDrWeJGo" target="_blank">Click here to watch on youtube</a>.<br /><br /><br /><b>Part 2: Branches</b><br /><br />By the early 60s, the Blues and R&amp;B had already been appropriated &amp; adopted by popular music &amp; the three chord 12 bar blues became a mainstay of the emerging rock sound. Innovation, improvisation, &amp; intuitiveness marked the new world ambassadors of jazz. From being the music of the oppressed, jazz was suddenly the language that everyone could speak.<br /><br />The heady coming together of the peace movement, rock, protest music, avant garde &amp; globalism led to bands like <b>Blood, Sweat &amp; Tears</b>, <b>The Moody Blues</b>, &amp; <b>Frank Zappa &amp; the Mothers of Invention </b>playing what was essentially jazz. Jazz was no longer a niche, obscure, difficult to appreciate genre. It was out there, in the popular songs, in TV commercials, on your cellphone ringtones, &amp; even in urban &amp; hiphop loops.<br /><br />a) The other direction jazz was taking was across cultures &amp; nations. Here is a poignant moment from a lecture tour of Russia by <b>Dave Brubeck</b> from the cold war era that shows how jazz transcends barriers.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/ceiDpI_ZabA/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/ceiDpI_ZabA&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/ceiDpI_ZabA&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br /><br />b) Back in the US, jazz was thriving too. The younger generations were rediscovering jazz as vocabulary thanks to government and private funding for education &amp; research. The good thing was that the musicians ended up having a real good time, free to do what they wanted, and be respected for it too. Here is <b>Victor Wooten</b> playing <b>Amazing Grace</b>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/pEyEu-hS0fA?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><br />c) Jazz had grown up to become the common denominator of world music. When you hear performers like <b>Madhav Chari </b>or the <b>Vijay Iyer Trio</b>, you need to strain your ear to hear the Indian influence. On the other hand, if you hear <b>Mahavishnu Orchetra</b> or <b>Shakti</b>, it sounds more Indian than global. Here is an extract from a performance by an act called <b>Kinsmen </b>featuring <b>Rudresh Mahanthappa</b> &amp; <b>Kadri Gopalnath</b>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/GF8fQGCHqW0?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><br />d) It is difficult to not include <b>Herbie Hancock</b> in any discussion about the global nature of jazz. His albums – especially The New Standard &amp; Possibilities - are a great jazz primer for young listeners wanting to get a feel for jazz. Here is the <b>Nirvana </b>classic <b>All Apologies </b>interpreted by Herbie Hancock. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/sKUaZgcZp-0?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><br />e) If you can explain it, it is not jazz. This session has tried to stay away from explaining, but here is a thought for all of us to take home. Jazz taps into the innate power each of us have to preserve &amp; project the mysticity of our human existence. It does so by rising above language, nationality, status, religion &amp; political belief. Jazz is simultaneously the record &amp; the recorder of our history, warts &amp; all. Here is <b>Sachal Studio</b>’s version of <b>Dave Brubeck</b>’s <b>Take Five</b>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/GLF46JKkCNg?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">***** </div>These are my lecture notes from an interactive session I did for the Hyderabad Western Music Foundation on February 10, 2013. Several people have requested that I put it up along with the videos of the music played. It is in the form of a playlist that served as the basis for a discussion on the global language called Jazz. Some of the links refused to embed in the post body, so I added them as clickable links that open in a new window. Hope you enjoyed the music.<br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/wVRXfp8c_68" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com9http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2013/03/history-of-global-jazz.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-38929095674106708232013-03-18T19:25:00.000-07:002013-03-18T19:25:49.056-07:00The Life and Times of Pandit Ravi ShankarMy secret Santa gifted me The Living Room Sessions Part One after I read about it in some of the articles that began doing the rounds after Pandit Ravi Shankar’s death on December 11, 2012. It was fascinating to hear the informal recording of the 91-year-old with his old friend Tanmoy Bose on tabla. The four pieces, which includes one in Raga Satyajit, a spontaneous creation in honor of his friend, the filmmaker Satyajit Ray, are delicately nuanced with some very intricate embellishments, and seem set for a permanent place near the top of the pile for all Indian classical music lovers. His phrasing is subtle and lyrical, and these pieces lack the flashy question marks that several of his later recordings made a habit of. At 91, he sounds like he has finally found what he sought all his life, peace and certainty.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B5HReTIbQ2k/UNp8wRArPEI/AAAAAAAACFk/QXlKPpKz_qI/s1600/ravishankar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B5HReTIbQ2k/UNp8wRArPEI/AAAAAAAACFk/QXlKPpKz_qI/s320/ravishankar.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><br />I wrote in detail about my understanding of the life and times of Ravi Shankar over at Parth's blog. Do take a look. Click below to read it.<br /><br /><a href="http://thestoryofparth.blogspot.com/2012/12/ravi-shankar.html" target="_blank">Read the whole post&gt;&gt;</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/JeCIVBd5L-g" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com2http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2013/03/life-of-ravi-shankar-shubho.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-29994917577545513742012-11-03T12:42:00.001-07:002012-11-03T12:43:33.940-07:00Bollywood JazzThere are times when words are totally unnecessary. Here are two videos from this evening's MTV Unplugged featuring A.R. Rahman. These transcend genres. Have a nice weekend.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XEY2M5I3fGg" width="560"></iframe> <br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8UXxo7ILHWU" width="560"></iframe><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/quA9c_7BNhY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com1http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/11/arrahman-mtv-unplugged.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-23651652675028078912012-10-11T07:50:00.000-07:002012-10-11T07:50:09.938-07:0010 Albums to Restore Your Faith in MusicA friend recently wanted to “refurbish” her library on her iPod and asked me for some suggestions. Our tastes in music have a large degree of overlap, so I set out enthusiastically, only to realize how difficult it was to come up with a finite list for great listening. At a time when not a lot of contemporary popular music seems to have a chance of surviving beyond a few years, here is a list of albums that should restore your faith in music.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W6O_w4fsQLM/TpgoAjlaMKI/AAAAAAAABGA/TYxXiR06Crs/s1600/betteraudio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W6O_w4fsQLM/TpgoAjlaMKI/AAAAAAAABGA/TYxXiR06Crs/s400/betteraudio.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />1. Surprise – Paul Simon<br />You know the Live at Central Park Concert by heart, you use their lyrics to help you deal with daily strife, and you still hang on to the Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m. cassette that no longer plays. You will be surprised by the urban contemporary tone (without losing out on the lyricism or the wit of the older songs) of this one from Paul Simon.<br /><br />2. Mercury Falling – Sting<br />I love everything by Sting. Almost. This album is his maturest best, balancing musical ideas with sentimentality, technology with originality, and middle age cynicism with hopeless romanticism. Two other good but relatively less popular/known listens from Sting would be All This Time which he was recording while 9/11 happened and Live at The Perugia Jazz Festival which sees him freewheeling and improvising like never before.<br /><br />3. My Rock – Walk Off the Earth<br />New India band that I found thanks to youtube! Nice and original sound, neat covers. They only have two albums out so far, and they make for good listening. They do not strictly fall into the category of serious music, but they bring a freshness that takes you back to the time when The Beach Boys and The Beatles were putting out there initial music. Their music videos are a visual treat unlike anything you have seen before.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />4. Heavy Pick – Robert Cray<br />Technically a studio album, but really a compilation of the best of this amazing contemporary bluesman. You may also want to take a listen to Take Your Shoes Off if you have not heard a lot of Robert Cray before.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zx4VRJyZVXI/T-M0H84PVOI/AAAAAAAABps/F81EGyLWhEw/s1600/dylancover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zx4VRJyZVXI/T-M0H84PVOI/AAAAAAAABps/F81EGyLWhEw/s400/dylancover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />5. Tempest – Bob Dylan<br />The long awaited album from Dylan captures him at his raspiest, wittiest, and musical best. Age has only made him bolder and sharper. Contemporary in feel, this album rates a notch higher on my list than his other work from the last decade. Too early to decide if it is just the excitement of new material that makes me feel this way though.Of course, you can replace this album by any of his early releases, and it will still work.<br /><br />6. Two Against Nature – Steely Dan<br />If you are already a Steely Dan fan, this might seem out of place, and I would agree. Everything of theirs preceding this is classier and crazier. I listed this because of the “matured” sound and songwriting and engineering, and of course the fact that as a band, they are at their tightest best, not a moment out of place. My opinion. If you like it, you would want to go through ALL their work.<br /><br />7. The New Standard – Herbie Hancock<br />Jazz covers of popular songs? This has to be the last word. This is Hancock atoning for his much more difficult album – The Definitive.<br /><br />8. River: The Joni Letters – Herbie Hancock and Friends<br />Between Hancock and Marsalis, it is hard to tell who has done more to popularize jazz among younger listeners. Rivers, as well as the earlier Possibilities, is a collaboration with contemporary singers/musicians across genres. Unlike Possibilities, which was very squarely aimed at the pop/rock market, this is a tribute to Joni Mitchell with the finest group of people doing incredible interpretations. A must have.<br /><br />9. Kandisa – Indian Ocean<br />Indian Jazz-rock fusion with a social conscience. Hard to beat. Indian Ocean has also released a film on its life and times called Leaving Home which is a heartwarming and inspiring film that places India on the global music docufilms map.<br /><br />10. Love – The Beatles<br />If you know your Beatles backwards, you will love this. Produced by George Martin and his son Giles, it is the soundtrack to a Cirque de Soleil show on the Beatles called Love and is entirely made up of Beatles tracks and sounds. It takes a few listens to get many of the layers and nuances, and the first couple of times you hear it are like a surprise party. Very creative and intelligent.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c5F3eIczya4/UHPh7-iychI/AAAAAAAAB6I/QSQqD3w6hbc/s1600/lennon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c5F3eIczya4/UHPh7-iychI/AAAAAAAAB6I/QSQqD3w6hbc/s320/lennon.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/rKZq7PG2bMI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com16http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/10/10-albums-to-restore-your-faith-in-music.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-25616211069084428882012-08-18T08:58:00.000-07:002012-08-19T08:39:27.061-07:00Music for Manic Monday Mornings<div style="text-align: justify;">In the blogging world, Monday mornings are manic for most. If your post isn’t shipshape, you are probably racing against the clock to be able to hit publish by the time people log in to work, by the time the homemaker settles down at his computer after packing the kids and the working woman off. And then there is the mad social network hopping to get the word out. I am no different. But I am lazy. And wicked. And a hedonist.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So over the long weekend, I came up with something that this Monday morning is just right for. Music. Not a post about music but a post of music. Yes, a playlist it is. A devilish Peter Pan sort of a playlist. A journey back in time to the music I grew up with, starting from what I heard before I could decide what I would listen to, on to the music that I couldn’t avoid once I was old enough to make a choice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Like parents, one often does not get to choose the music that shapes one’s life. It is a combination of the culture of the times, your milieu, and what resonated within you for reasons that will forever remain unclear. Enough of introduction. Lets get to the music.</div><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">1. As The Beatles were making history, another British band, The Dave Clark Five was giving them a run for their money, be it chasing the No. 1 spot on the UK and US charts , appearances on US TV shows, or being the clean and lovable ambassadors of British invasion. This song is precisely as old as me. It was one of the songs that my parents rocked to, so it was hard for me not start my list with it. <br /><br /><b>Dave Clark Five – Catch Us If You Can </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/SRQCN5x1-NI?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRQCN5x1-NI"></a><br />2. This was another song that my parents rocked to (it is very difficult to visualize my parents rocking, but they gave birth to me and my brother, so nothing is impossible). I found the Mid-Eastern rhythm and the strangeness of the lyrics mesmerizing as a child, and later, hilariously geopolitical. The multi-language lyrics translate to “My Cherie, I love you, Cherie, I adore you, like tomato sauce.” If you are wondering where you might have heard the tune before, think Sanjay Dutt starrer Aatish or the Led Zep Remaster track called White Summer/Black Mountainside. <br /><br /><b>Bob Azzam - Ya Moustapha </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/_z2XopMWJG4/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_z2XopMWJG4&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_z2XopMWJG4&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />3. The sheer simplicity and universality of this next song will keep it alive as long as people are going to be in love. I first heard The Beatles at home, but it only after I started meeting friends who were really into music that I realized what the music of The Beatles really meant. This song is older than me, but to date it is as magically new as the love that reinvents a person each moment of one’s lifetime. <br /><br /><b>The Beatles – Love Me Do </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/_xuMwfUqJJM/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_xuMwfUqJJM&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_xuMwfUqJJM&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />4. My uncle, Gerard, introduced me to the Merseyside meets Classical world of Moody Blues. I loved the rich texture and instrumentation that reminded me of the orchestral music that resounded in our home, while the lyrics and the ideas filled me with a restlessness to give in to the winds of change that were blowing all around me. I had a tough time choosing between this song and Forever Afternoon, but since this is the first time I am putting a playlist out, I chose to stay as close to the middle of the road as one can when listening to Moody Blues. <br /><br /><b>Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KnG4sZvQ1Wo?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br />5. Despite the advances in recording technology and synthesizers that were de rigueur by the time The Who released Who’s Next, it was the raw energy of the songs and the lyrical drama that made this album so special. This version of Behind Blue Eyes is from the concert at The Summit, Houston, TX, which is available in its entirety on Youtube. <br /><br /><b>The Who – Behind Blue Eyes</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XkLI121OBms?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">6. Halfway through the list I realized that British Rock really is what I grew up on. But I was also listening to popular music of a more global nature, like Nina and Frederick, the yellow-haired high-cheek-boned white duo from Denmark who shot to fame with their calypso and Jamaican hits like Sinner Man and Counting Colors in the Rainbow. Here they are from the BBC Top of the Pops doing an all time classic. <br /><br /><b>Nina and Frederick - Baby its Cold Outside</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ypZFDEARKo?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">7. How does one place a Stones or a Tull track next to the previous one? Along with mainstream rock, our times saw the emergence of Disco, Afro Pop and Reggae. One of the bands that India was crazy about during those days was the West African band, Osibisa. I had almost all their vinyl releases. Every party you went to had their big hits playing – Woyaya, Sunshine Day, Dance the Body Music, and of course, their take on Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram from their India concert tour. Here is one of their more lyrical tracks. <br /><br /><b>Osibisa – Welcome Home </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/EP-a5bBkSwU?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP-a5bBkSwU"></a><br />8. The world’s perception of the power of music had been changed forever with Woodstock. Musicians were able to transcend boundaries that governments and religions could not. Reggae in Britain and Latin music in the US were redefining genres and creative traditions. On one hand you had the Beatles exploring Indian classical instruments, and on the other you had Cream and The Yardbirds tracing the roots of the Blues. Santana was another major influence on my musical sensibilities. <br /><br /><b>Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton – Jingo&nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/pAf3gqdCrDs?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAf3gqdCrDs"></a><br />9. Even before I stepped into my teens, there was a band called Moheener Ghoraguli which was creating a fusion of Baul, Bengali traditional music, Rock, Folk and Jazz. They did concerts and released three seminal albums that to date remains the bedrock on which Bangla rock and perhaps all of Indian fusion music stands. The sociopolitical consciousness that their lyrics and arrangements carried cannot be compared to anything in the Indian contemporary music scene. The significance of this band can be gauged by the fact that along with the classic reunion and tribute video below, I am also sharing a version of one of their classic songs, <a href="http://soundcloud.com/ir_personal/06-track-6">Adho Alo Adhare, covered by Nogor Philomel</a>. <br /><br /><b>Mohiner Ghoraguli – Bhalobashi&nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/teWpIZZmAtE?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br />10. Boney M, Abba, and Brotherhood of Man were constant companions in my preteen years, but it was jazz that made me see beyond the predigested pap that commercial music would often be, and it was love at first listen. Of course, I fell for Take Five and Greensleeves, but it was the man who introduced me to Joe Pass, Barney Kessel and Ray Brown, that was my first love – Oscar Peterson.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;Yes, I went on to fall in love with playing the guitar later on in life. <br /><br /><b>Oscar Peterson Trio – You Look Good To Me </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/Leg_AqkGvWc/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Leg_AqkGvWc&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Leg_AqkGvWc&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I must confess, writing this post has been a most enjoyable experience. To think that I started it out as a easier softer way to get a post out on Monday!! And I have barely scratched the surface. Next time I feel this inspired, I will touch on the music of my teenage years, a melange of amazing pop Divas, Zappa-esque tomfoolery, prog rock, and of course, Jazz.<br /><br />Hope you had fun, and have you looked at the time lately? <br /><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/2emmfRL2IS4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com5http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/08/subhorup-subhos-playlists-early-years.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-66578224791191801702012-07-13T00:12:00.002-07:002012-08-23T20:08:39.609-07:00The Beatles Remastered: RevolverMusic has been so integral a part of my personality that there are a large number of performers and performances that I feel extremely challenged to write about. I feel that no amount of effort that I put into writing about them can ever do justice to how important they are to me. Over the years, I have gathered courage to write about some of them in the best manner I could, but they still come across as inadequate to me. The Beatles is one such musical phenomenon. Though I have attempted reviewing <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2010/10/mccartney-band-on-run-deluxe.html" target="_blank">works by Paul</a> and written about <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2010/09/john-lennon-and-70s.html" target="_blank">John and the 70s</a>, I cannot bring myself to write about the music of The Beatles.<br /><br />While browsing, I found that I had replied to a question on an audio forum a long time back, and I thought it merited a place here, since I doubt I will ever be able to reproduce the cocky clarity with which I answered. The questioner had asked whether the 2009 remaster of The Beatles' Revolver was worth buying for a fan who already has the original vinyl...<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5vL4PeXv6hU/T__Jagj1USI/AAAAAAAABtA/AGc87jbZI1c/s1600/revolver_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5vL4PeXv6hU/T__Jagj1USI/AAAAAAAABtA/AGc87jbZI1c/s320/revolver_cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surely one of the greatest album covers of all time, and among the top three Beatles album covers for me.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Here is my reply.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Revolver is a landmark album for The Beatles in many senses. It is a point of departure from their earlier albums and contains all original tracks and no covers. It also sees them experimenting with electronically altered sounds, and unusual instruments. It also marks the beginning of their foray into psychedelia.<br /><a name='more'></a></blockquote><blockquote><br />For the average Beatles fans, there is a great deal of romance attached to the George Martin mixes, in spite of their wooly and harsh sounds. The stark left/right divisions of instruments and vocal tracks have come to be identified with the classic Beatles presentation. What makes the remasters significant is the clarity given to the instruments, as well as the way the left/right mix has been tweaked to place the band in a spatially more real context.<br /><br />The remasters were done by Allan Rouse of EMI and released in 2009. The crux of these remasters is that they give greater depth and clarity to the individual tracks, eliminate the technical shortcomings that were part of the original analog tapes, such as sibilance and tape drop-outs.<br /><br />Are the remasters a better buy for a fan who already has Revolver on vinyl? The answer would be a resounding yes, since it opens up aspects of the album that are lost in the analog version. Though much of the tape loop effects and Harrison's experiments with guitar outputs sound the same, the remasters add life and presence to the tracks in a way that the original mixes are unable to. For the purists, however, there is little in the remasters to be excited about.</blockquote><br />If you are a Beatles completionist like me and fuss over versions and recordings, I would love to hear what you thought of this in the comments. <br /><br />Source:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.audiovideoclan.com/beatles-remastered-album-revolver-worth-buying.html" target="_blank">AudioVideoClan</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">******</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Did you enjoy this post? You can stay updated on posts like this and from all my other blogs, as well as the best of my bloggers' network, by joining the<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Subhos-Jejune-Diet/202372039847671" target="_blank"> Subho's Jejune Diet Facebook Page</a>.</b></span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/IJFqEel-mv0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com12http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-beatles-remastered-2009-revolver.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-76004860622645152722012-07-06T00:24:00.001-07:002013-04-26T22:31:45.803-07:00Tina Turner - Simply The BestI was really not aware of Tina Turner’s body of work or her journey as a musician and as a person when I first heard her sing Private Dancer and What’s Love Got To Do with It. I was a teenager fed on a diet of campus rock, and for all purposes, this was nothing more than glam pop pretending to be rock. Yet, something about her voice, her delivery, and the urgency of her singing made me sit up and listen to it carefully. This was at a time when other than the weekend pop time and the occasional top of the pops or Eurovision fillers on Doordarshan, all you had on music television was an hour of MTV in the late afternoon. When I first saw her perform on television, her energy and intensity bowled me over.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YpcGYJ4gjYs/T_BmIOkJGTI/AAAAAAAABq8/tzWjpgDeb0g/s1600/tinacover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="338" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YpcGYJ4gjYs/T_BmIOkJGTI/AAAAAAAABq8/tzWjpgDeb0g/s400/tinacover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I grew out of my teens. Tina Turner drifted in and out of my musical horizon with Mad Max and 007 soundtracks and duets with Barry White and Bryan Adams. My growing propensity towards jazz and the blues saw her climb lower on my personal charts. As a student of popular music, I familiarized myself with her early work with Ike Turner and the Revue with masterpieces like River Deep Mountain High and of course, Proud Mary. Beyond that, I was ready to ignore her songs as ones that were going to go to the bottom of the shelf. What I could not ignore, however, was the electricity of her singing and her live performances, whether it was with Beyonce at a Grammy performance or with Cher for the Oprah Winfrey show. Of course, there were other rockers her age who were rocking too, but she was something special. I could not put my finger on it then, and I have not been able to put my finger on it now.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-52MH9LXciMw/T_Bl_7A6WYI/AAAAAAAABq0/M6uOBsAlidg/s1600/river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-52MH9LXciMw/T_Bl_7A6WYI/AAAAAAAABq0/M6uOBsAlidg/s400/river.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I bumped into Tina Turner again on a <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2006/02/review-possibilities-by-herbie-hancock.html" target="_blank">Herbie Hancock</a> tribute album to Joni Mitchell on which she sang the smokiest and most brazen version of Edith and the Kingpin. I also learned around the same time that she, like Herbie Hancock, was a practicing Buddhist subscribing to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin. The teachings of the latter years of Shakyamuni Buddha’s life as interpreted by the 13th century Japanese sage, Nichiren have been the greatest influence on my personal philosophy, and the discovery of this connection made me more interested in her work and life.<br /><br />I got to watch the 1993 biopic, What’s Love Got To Do With It recently. Through it I learned about the spirit of this incredible performer and the courage with which she steered her life and her career. Tina was born as Anna Mae Bullock to working class parents on November 26, 1939. Obsessively passionate about singing, she entered the chauvinistic world of popular music as the discovery of Ike Turner, who she went on to marry. She lived through a marriage that was increasingly abusive and finally decided to part ways in the middle of a concert tour. Straddled with huge debts from the canceled tour, she struggled to move away from the pop R&amp;B sound and build a more serious reputation for herself. She embarked on ambitious concert tours that quickly earned her a name as an electrifying live performer. She also successfully targeted the space between disco and hard rock.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vo0e6Hx1_gY/T_BmQaa9mRI/AAAAAAAABrE/fGqd4RuWOC0/s1600/tinaprivatedancer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vo0e6Hx1_gY/T_BmQaa9mRI/AAAAAAAABrE/fGqd4RuWOC0/s400/tinaprivatedancer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />With age, she went on to become the symbol of the successful woman rocker, and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stones for the eighth time for their 30th anniversary issue (#773, one of my prized possessions) on the women of rock. Though she personally attributes her courage and stamina to her Buddhist faith, at 73, the astounding energy that she portrays on stage will have most people scratching their heads as she sways and shimmies, runs across the stage and headbangs her way through the show.<br /><br /><br />For women who have had to deal with abusive partners and a chauvinistic social system, she is a symbol of determination and victory. As a singer, she has held her ground, stayed true to her inner voice, and dared to re-fashion herself when all around her suggested she stick to the familiar. She has had her share of musical downs too as she grappled with the intricacies of the new formats that she was experimenting with. But through it all, her powerful conviction in what she was doing has shone through and stood the test of time.<br /><br />As Oprah Winfrey famously said to and of her, "We don't need another hero. We need more heroines like you, Tina. You make me proud to spell my name w-o-m-a-n.”<br /><br />Update: As of April 2013, Tina is settling into her newly acquired Swiss citizenship (though she has been living there for the last couple of decades) and is preparing to marry (for only the second time in her life) her partner for the last 18 years, German record producer Erwin Bach.&nbsp; <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/La6XfAX-fUU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com8http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/07/tina-turner-simply-the-best.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-87286481654244969702012-06-20T07:44:00.002-07:002012-07-15T09:19:04.874-07:00Grunge: The Unclassifiable Seattle SoundThe Operative Note embraces all genres of creative musical expression.&nbsp; In this post, guest blogger Sandeep of <a href="http://singilela.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Crack The Sky</a> takes a look at the phenomenon of grunge, that brief period when it looked like the counter culture movement might evolve into something more meaningful. Over to the expert.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">*****</div><br />"Here we are now, entertain us!!!" -Kurt Cobain, singer and guitarist of the band Nirvana.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XgaMHh8j17Q/T-Hg91Q0hCI/AAAAAAAABn0/MmGYsHltc_I/s1600/kurt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XgaMHh8j17Q/T-Hg91Q0hCI/AAAAAAAABn0/MmGYsHltc_I/s400/kurt.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>The Early Rumblings</b><br />For all its intents and purpose, the American underground musical movement of late 80s and early 90s known as grunge was never meant to see the light of the day. Grunge as a musical movement was never aiming to be accepted by mainstream culture, but all that changed thanks to a handful of Seattle rock bands who mixed the distorted apocalyptic chords of heavy metal with subject matter such as alienation, apathy and angst. The grunge bands of those period were fiercely independent and idealistic and they despised mainstream success. So what exactly happened that dragged the grunge movement from its underground roots to the blinding lights of mainstream music.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ndLSYGBG7iM/T-HhL6KKPkI/AAAAAAAABn8/4K-UbI49x2w/s1600/Pearljam_ten.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ndLSYGBG7iM/T-HhL6KKPkI/AAAAAAAABn8/4K-UbI49x2w/s400/Pearljam_ten.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />To understand why grunge became popular and revolutionary in the early 90s, it is important to understand the musical atmosphere of the 80s in America and Europe. Artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna were King and Queen respectively of pop music, their best years already past them. Tame pop bands like Bon Jovi, Poison and Bryan Adams were stuffing the airwaves with their assembly line lyrics and safe sounds. With the 90s around the corner, the young and the not so young were getting tired of materialistic excess that was so typical of the 80s. They were restless for a new musical identity and most of them were looking at American underground music for inspiration.<br /><br /><b>Nirvana - Ground Zero of Grunge</b><br /><br />Nirvana was a Seattle band who released their debut album, Bleach in 1989. This album had all the trademarks of the early grunge sound, but something was missing. Listening to it now it sounds terribly dated and badly produced. In 1990, Nirvana was signed to a big label and now they had access to resources which they were previously lacking.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3X4gFhAByFM/T-HhnATL7DI/AAAAAAAABoE/gEOxR9xBwLk/s1600/nevermind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3X4gFhAByFM/T-HhnATL7DI/AAAAAAAABoE/gEOxR9xBwLk/s400/nevermind.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />After working for a year in the studio they came up with what is now generally acknowledged as the greatest modern rock album, 'Nevermind'. They released their first single from the album 'Smells like teen spirit', the video for which was heavily promoted by MTV. The album caught the imagination of the youth like no other with its molten guitar sound, thunderous drumming and anthemic choruses. The genius behind this was one Kurt Cobain, a tortured soul who struggled with drug addiction and indifferent childhood. His lyrics portray the dark side of urban youth with their direction-less life and impotent rage. He spit out his lyrics with mangled screams and the American public were more than glad to sing-along with him in concerts around America and Europe. Their 'Nevermind' album was super successful across America and Europe, which bought the band a lot of fame, something which Kurt Cobain was disillusioned with. At the same time another significant Seattle band called 'Pearl Jam' released their debut album 'Ten.' While 'Ten' was structurally different it was thematically similar to 'Nevermind.' So the grunge reached its apex of popularity with the youth across the world aping their idols torn jeans and plaid shirts.<br /><br /><b>The Decline and Aftershocks - Corporate Suits Take Over</b><br />In 1993 Nirvana released their final and rawest album 'In Utero', which was 40 minutes of emotional bloodletting. This album was thematically superior but with lesser known songs, although now its considered one of their best offerings. With another Seattle band Soundgarden releasing their monstrous 70-minute album 'Superunknown' the grunge fever continued unabated. While the young grunge bands taking their inspiration from their grunge idols were sweating it out in garages and clubs, corporate honchos in their well-furnished offices were making plans to mass-market the grunge phenomenon. What followed was the rash of second-tier grunge bands who imitated their idols but never bettered them; the cathartic power of grunge as a form of music was diluted. With the steady rise of Hip-Hop and with the suicide of then 27-year-old Kurt Cobain, the grunge died a slow and painful death. The public response to grunge was now muted and the grunge music now became soundtrack to parties around the world.<br /><br /><b>Legacy</b><br />Although the grunge as a form of music made little or no impact in other countries, the philosophy of fiercely independent and uncompromising grunge bands inspired many other music movements. When I was studying in Wesley College in the late 90s/early 2000s, there were actual bands in my college who dressed similarly to Kurt Cobain with their unruly hair and torn jeans, who were playing gospel and rock music simply for the pleasures of it without expecting any rewards. By sheer chance me and my friends listened to Nirvana's 'Nevermind' blaring out through Maruti van of our college seniors and each of us decided to chip in and buy the cassette. We made copies for each one of us and it changed our lives forever. Maybe now more than ever Bollywood and Indian music needs a grungy makeover.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">*****</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Thanks, Sandeep of <a href="http://singilela.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Crack The Sky</a>, for this incisive analysis of one of the most beautiful movements in contemporary music. Hope to have you back here at The Operative Note for more such enjoyable and informative posts.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/50tOzk6FYAI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com1http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/06/kurt-cobain-nirvana-grunge.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-61671436650032634682012-06-09T00:48:00.001-07:002012-07-15T09:21:12.393-07:00Bob Dylan: The Tambourine ManBob Dylan's 71st birthday came and went. My friends and I celebrated by watching Scorcese's documentary on Dylan's life, No Direction Home. <a href="http://24mayshillong.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lou Majaw did his thing</a> at Shillong and then some more at Mumbai. Lou has kept the annual Bob Dylan tribute concert going in Shillong for four decades now. Barrack Obama, the US President who as a young person felt the world open up when he heard Dylan sing, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-awarded-presidential-medal-of-freedom-20120529" target="_blank">conferred the Freedom Medal</a> on him around the same time, a sight as bizarre as the artiste lineup on Amnesty International's tribute album featuring nearly 80 of Dylan's best songs sung by artists from all genres.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zx4VRJyZVXI/T-M0H84PVOI/AAAAAAAABps/F81EGyLWhEw/s1600/dylancover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zx4VRJyZVXI/T-M0H84PVOI/AAAAAAAABps/F81EGyLWhEw/s400/dylancover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Why am I writing this on the day that he first recorded Mr. Tambourine Man (surely one of the finest set of lyrics ever) nearly half a century ago in 1964? I write this because I feel a great sense of loss when I see how this man allowed his personal choices to stand in the way of making a real difference to the world. Of course, no one can deny that the hurricane he created with his songs has changed the world for ever and for good. However, as a lover of Dylan's work, it would be wrong of me to discount what could have been. <br /><a name='more'></a><br />He was quick to distance himself from the peace movement of the 60s and 70s, preferring to pursue commercial success instead, and who can fault him for that? He not only found what he sought, but created the most gorgeous songs in the process. It helps to keep in mind that he was at the height of his popularity at the same time as Bob Marley, Joan Baez and Neil Young. One wonders how differently the counter culture movement of the 60s would have evolved had he chosen to lend his words and voice to their struggle. <br /><br />His electric outings have had their share of bad press over the years, and while as a musician I can understand his compulsions, as a fan of his lyricism and balladeering, I can't figure out what got into him. <br /><br />His born again years might bring joy to many for their religiosity, but in terms of songwriting, they pale in comparison with his earlier work. For the greater part, they were repetitions of devices that he had mastered as a younger person. <br /><br />The man who wrote A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall and Masters of War degenerated over the years into the person who released Slow Train and Planet Waves. I recently watched The Artist, the black and white tribute to the silent era, and I realized how desperate a creative artist can feel with changing times and the realization that the work one has done is no longer appreciated by contemporary patrons. Perhaps that explains the Freedom medal the best.<br /><br />The Freedom Medal for Dylan and Dylan accepting it served more as a last nail in the coffin that he has so painstakingly created over the years than a recognition of creativity. It seems to me that he has finally become part of the establishment that he set out defying 50 years back. Of course, I know that there are people who will feel otherwise, and and this just the opinion of a person who grew up understanding relationships and politics through the lyrics of Dylan songs.<br /><br />My favorite tracks from Dylan keep changing, usually depending on what is going on in my life at the time, but here are five tracks that I think are among his finest. If you do not have them in your collection, maybe you will look for them.<br /><br />Blowin in the wind<br />One more cup of coffee<br />Make you feel my love<br />Lay lady lay<br />Don't think twice, its all right<br />Subterranean homesick blues<br /><br />For those you who wish to re-live the magic of his early years, I suggest the Original Mono Recordings and Highway 61 Revisited. You may want to read <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2010/09/bob-dylan-original-mono-recordings.html" target="_blank">my post on the Original Mono Recordings</a> too. Do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts on this post. <br /><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%5Bhttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387%5D?rel=author">Google</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/4bh0iMYg2r4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com8http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/06/bob-dylan-tambourine-man.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-6118679249135511682012-05-23T00:27:00.001-07:002012-05-24T19:38:25.900-07:00Robert Moog Google DoodleThe <a href="http://www.google.com/doodles/robert-moogs-78th-birthday" target="_blank">Google Doodle for Robert Moog's birthday</a> is going to go down as a landmark, this much is for sure. It is a full fledged tone generator with all the wave modulation that one can ask for, and comes with a four track recording and playback button. And all of it with a very amazing range of controls. While modern listeners may be quick to call it a crazy squelchy sound, those of us who have witnessed the evolution of the synthesizer will be all starry eyed and ranting about this for a while.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-004F7i_K7ZQ/T7yPR5aFeuI/AAAAAAAABjw/Nd8n5R_DfME/s1600/robert-moog-doodle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-004F7i_K7ZQ/T7yPR5aFeuI/AAAAAAAABjw/Nd8n5R_DfME/s320/robert-moog-doodle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screen snippet of the Google Doodle for Robert Moog's 78th birthday</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The app, built using the web audio research that the madmen at Googleplex have been doing for a while comes with 19 fully functioning knobs, a modulation wheel, a four track recorder, and volume control for individual oscillators. The three oscillators are paired with filters that let you tweak the attack, decay, sustain and contour, and an on/off switch for the modulation wheel. It works with a keyboard (QWERTY and the numpad) as well as with a mouse, but if you are trying to build a melody, the keyboard is the obvious choice. So, skipping the jargon, here is a Doodle that lets you create your own sound, modulate and envelop it the way you want, and then record up to 30 seconds and four tracks of it, play it back, and share it.<br /><br />It took me a while (a huge while actually) to figure out all that it contained, and once I did, I was awestruck and nostalgic for quite a while. Before I return to the magic of this doodle, a quick look at the world of Robert Moog and what he did for the modern sound.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />Robert Moog (May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was a pioneer in synthesizing audio output using oscillators and modulators, and building upwards from the Theremin principle, he was the first person to build usable synthesizers with keyboards and controllers that could be used in the setting of a musical performance. Till this time, other than the occasional use of Theremins, the only significant electronic sound was the distortion used by electric guitarists. With the introduction of what came to be known as the Moog Synthesizer in the late 60s, popular musicians began incorporating the synthesizer sound into their work. Early adopters included The Doors, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys. As it infiltrated pop music, an entire new genre developed, that of electronic music. Acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder and the disco or electronic dance music industry took it to new heights of popular acceptance, while bands like ELP, Yes, Bread, Genesis and Pink Floyd used it as a staple of the emerging progressive rock scene. Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Chick Correa and Rick Wakeman took it into soul and jazz. Of course, the synthesized versions of the classical genre also created an entirely new music market, that of the souped up classics, leading to releases like Switched On Bach and Greatest Hits of Beethoven.<br /><br />It is perhaps difficult to understand the enormous significance of this development looking at the music of today, with digital audio applications having infiltrated all forms and genres of music. But for people who have fiddled around with single ring modulators and envelopes, and tried sticking wire across speaker cones, the magic of the 70s will never die. The many years of monophonic synths giving way to the polyphony that we take for granted when we look at modern Rolands and Yamahas was mystic as well as imbued with a sense of loss, a loss of innocence and limitations, maybe somewhat similar to how people felt when gas lights gave way to electric lights.<br /><br />I still remember the first commercially available monophonic keyboard with envelop controls that I ever laid my hands on, the CASIO VL-Tone, with numerically programmable filters and envelopes and a very limited range of preset tones with modulators. I remember listening to Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra and the later releases of Queen, and wondering what kind of synthesizers they used. For me, even as I let techno, trance, and electronica waft through my senses, the joy of discovering synthesized sound for the first time, and then playing around with it is a feeling that I will never forget, and a feeling that will never ever be recreated. For that, I remember Robert Moog. For that, I thank Google and the guys behind the <a href="http://www.google.com/doodles/finder/2012/All%20doodles" target="_blank">Google Doodle </a>today, Ryan Germick and Joey Hurst (the same guys who did the similar playable Les Paul guitar doodle), no matter how many productive hours it takes away from all who were part of those magical time, and I am certain, many for whom it will be a discovery of that magic. Happy Birthday, Bob. <br /><br />Let us keep memories alive. Do you believe in magic? Did you also experience the magic? Do you have your own magic moments with synthesized sound? Do share in the comments.<br /><br />update - i found this after writing the post, <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.in/2012/05/tribute-to-bob-moog-sonic-doodler.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the official google blog post on this doodle. </a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/u-NF475u7CU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com2http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/05/robert-moog-google-doodle.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-88031924167521316932012-03-23T21:21:00.000-07:002012-08-23T20:05:28.127-07:00Little Boxes: Walk Off the EarthHappy Ugadi! Greetings for the new year! Here is a small gift that is like a multimedia cup of Ugadi Pachadi.<br /><br />My primary focus area over the last several years has been the re-definition of education. I believe that the crisis we are facing in almost all areas of human life is a failure of education. Somewhere in our rush to be who we wanted to be, we have forgotten what we learned, and forgotten to teach our children well. The warning signs have been around for a long time, and I don't mean just a few decades. Music has a very important role to play in this, especially in carrying the message of re-defining education to a generation that has been let down beyond belief by the ones preceding it.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />Here is a pretty song with a<a href="http://goo.gl/lrOma" target="_blank"> free mp3 download</a> that you might enjoy watching. Here is Walk Off the Earth (the guys behind the crazy gone viral <a href="http://youtu.be/d9NF2edxy-M" target="_blank">Somebody That I Used to Know</a>) performing Little Boxes. Enjoy!<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LM8JhvfoqdA" width="560"></iframe> <br />If you enjoy the music that I enjoy and share, and if you have already seen the Somebody That I Used to Know video, then you will surely want to take a look at Walk Off the Earth doing <a href="http://youtu.be/f4LhCv7RY4E" target="_blank">their cover of The Beatles From Me To You</a> (not embedding the video since it throws my columns out of whack, but do check out the Youtube link) and remember to play the video right through the end to hear a little of what these guys are really like. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">******</div><div style="text-align: center;">Did you enjoy this post? You can stay updated on posts like this and from all my other blogs,&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">as well as the best of my bloggers' network, by joining the</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Subhos-Jejune-Diet/202372039847671" target="_blank">Subho's Jejune Diet Facebook Page</a>.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/dPl9_9TDzp8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com8http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/03/walk-off-earth-little-boxes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-38513322480413759322012-03-08T18:56:00.000-08:002012-08-23T20:20:42.710-07:00Norah Jones and Danger Mouse: Little Broken HeartsI am pretty obsessive about the work <a href="http://subhorup.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/11/the-importance-of-being-norah-jones.htm" target="_blank">Norah Jones</a> has done, and have little to say that is critical or negative. I have felt that way even with <b>Feels Like Home</b>, which I thought was a brave thing for her to have done. But then, her career has been about constantly reinventing herself, and usually in unexpected creative directions. Ms. Jones is about to do it again.<br /><br />Norah Jones literally "burst on the scene" with her 2002 debut album, <b>Come Away With Me</b>, that won her five Grammy awards and millions of fans. It was a smooth and jazzy journey into the classical popular song format, with subtle instrumentation and arrangements that primarily showcased her voice and vocal skills. She went on to demolish this image of hers by releasing <b>Feels Like Home</b> in 2004, which was a “conservative” country album all the way. <b>Not Too Late</b>, released in 2007 introduced us to the philosopher and political Norah Jones, with all its material written by her, including songs of sorrow, songs of protest, and songs of nostalgia. Once again, it was a new foray into using contemporary formats to present the traditional song format.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C67x2HEINR4/T1lwszHUp0I/AAAAAAAABQw/PmIPAxtgngY/s1600/Norah+Jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C67x2HEINR4/T1lwszHUp0I/AAAAAAAABQw/PmIPAxtgngY/s400/Norah+Jones.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><b>The Fall</b>, in 2009, revealed a new Norah all over again, with a new steampunk look and music videos that were meant to give competitors a run for their money. The music and the lyrics had gone urban, and the laid back languid tone was replaced with a sense of urgency that was reinforced by the slickly paced rhythm and the guitar driven structures of the songs. In between all of this, she managed to pull off amazing collaborations and side projects, working with Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Willie Nelson and the like and keeping up her work with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and her own side project <a href="http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2006/03/review-little-willies.html" target="_blank">The Little Willies</a>.<br /><br />Danger Mouse, or Brian Burton, on the other hand is a remix and hip hop artist who is half of the Gnarls Barkley duo, but whose biggest claim to fame will remain the Grey Album, a redo of the famous White Album of The Beatles. I must confess that I am not an avid listener of this genre of music, and beyond its innovativeness, I have failed to find great musical value in this type of music.<br /><br />So it was a pleasant surprise to hear that Norah’s next outing was going to be a collaborative album with Danger Mouse, and it wasn’t till I heard the first single that I had any idea of what it would sound like. The Fall had seen Norah mature in style and move closer to guitar based rock without compromising on the content. She still spoke about love and loss, about ideology and disillusionment, but in a more relevant and hard hitting style. Along with it was the image makeover, that saw Norah leave her innocent country girl look behind and emerge as the strong urban woman.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k9eXO2ZJtII/T1lw9NXL_sI/AAAAAAAABQ4/VyfAgIKLz68/s1600/littlewillies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k9eXO2ZJtII/T1lw9NXL_sI/AAAAAAAABQ4/VyfAgIKLz68/s320/littlewillies.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The first single from <b>Little Broken Hearts</b>, which has a release date of May 1, 2012, but work on which started three years ago, was let out this week in a lyrics only video. The song is called <b>Happy Pills</b>. It is a peppy and groovy bass driven track sung in an upbeat fashion but which speaks of a breakup and lost love. However, listening to it, you can make out that this is no longer the Norah who doesn’t know why or who finds sadness in a sunrise. This is a soul diva who is almost celebrating the darkness as she chases the ghosts of an ex out of her life. The lyrics and the comic book style video adds to the magic of her voice and the breezy bass lines.<br /><br />After the last Little Willies mostly covers release, this is going to be Norah Jones’ fifth studio album and surely one to be looking out for.And before I sign out, here is a look at her newest song, Happy Pills. Enjoy.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/F0Hl4zn8hoE?feature=player_embedded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">******</div><div style="text-align: center;">I love people who read through to the end of the post. You can stay updated on posts like this and from all my other blogs, as well as the best of my bloggers' network, by joining the</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Subhos-Jejune-Diet/202372039847671" target="_blank">Subho's Jejune Diet Facebook Page</a>.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/Z5VETZ3jgxI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com4http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/03/norah-jones-2012-happy-pills.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21520209.post-28272542821539881942012-02-11T22:22:00.000-08:002012-02-13T23:18:36.153-08:00Whitney Houston Dead at 48The <a href="http://subhorup.blogspot.com/2012/02/54th-grammy-awards-2012.html" target="_blank">54th Grammy awards</a> show is set to become a Whitney Houston tribute evening with the death of this amazing performer who spent the last several years of her life battling drugs, a troubled personal life, nervous breakdowns, and unimpressive public performances, all of it compounded by failing health and a rapidly declining voice. The 48-year-old superstar, Whitney Houston was found dead on February 11, 2012, at a Beverly Hills Hotel. While I was looking forward to the Beach Boys reunion at the awards ceremony, it is obvious that Whitney’s death will overshadow all the excitement. This post is my tribute to an artist who lit up my teenage years, one whose songs made the pain and the joy of love and longing come alive, and one who battled her demons as best as she could.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gJ3v1Xje7lw/TzdaeNu7TlI/AAAAAAAABP0/9mypo8wSDrY/s1600/just-whitney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gJ3v1Xje7lw/TzdaeNu7TlI/AAAAAAAABP0/9mypo8wSDrY/s400/just-whitney.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The late 80s were a time of hope for music. The decade had generated next to nothing in new music that would stand the tests of time and the advent of music television meant that looks and moves often took precedence over content and talent. It was at such a time that Whitney Houston released her first self titled album which included tracks that would go on to be among her all time hits, Saving All My Love, Greatest Love of All, You Give Good Love, and Hold Me. Coming from a family of singers (she was the Daughter of Cissy Houston and a cousin of Dionne Warwick), with good connections in the recording industry, her debut was promoted and marketed by the best machinery one could think of, but it was her vocal talent that made listeners sit up. Here was a voice that was powerful, versatile, and soul stirring. Her persona and album covers were the type you could bring home and your mom would not disapprove. Within a few months, she was a staple of the Sunday afternoon request show on Kolkata’s favorite music show - All India Radio’s Musical Band Box.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />Her second album - Whitney - was even whiter than her first, with slick production, and songs like I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Didn’t We Almost Have It All being notable. But the problem with this album was that it came across as nothing more than a better packaged, better marketed version of the first. While it went on to become a hit, it failed to recreate the magic of the previous release. This was the time when music was going through a strange existential crisis, grunge was developing into a force to reckon with, and audiences loyalty to serious music was being challenged by aging rockstars torn between commercial success and creative integrity and new performers with hot bodies and looks that transcended gender, and oh, I forgot, who could sing a little too.<br /><br />But by now, Whitney had become the archetypical crossover superstar, and it was more of a token acknowledgement of her black roots with her next release - I’m Your Baby Tonight - with its hip hop and soul influences and collaborations. Though this album was also a commercial success, it contained nothing that would make fans look forward to what she would do next. It was during this period that she recorded <a href="http://youtu.be/tYFHAvULvJ0" target="_blank">One Moment In Time</a> and performed <a href="http://youtu.be/Z1QmeEdFOSc" target="_blank">The Star Spangled Banner</a> at the 1991 Super Bowl, two of her best performances ever in my opinion.<br /><br />The 90s saw her getting into acting in movies, with The Bodyguard, Waiting To Exhale, The Preacher’s Wife, etc. She also got married to the ex-New Edition rapper Bobby Brown. For many, this was a strange marriage. Whitney had positioned herself as the essence of purity, with her songs, with her style, and with her unspoken distance from the roots of black music, while Bobby Brown was the proverbial bad boy of rap, with legal, financial, family and drug troubles trailing him like flies after the garbage truck. It was almost as if Whitney was making amends for her image of innocence and beauty. Their initial years saw them looking happy, and they had a daughter not too long after that. Things began to sour with time, with news of assault and verbal abuse trickling out. The couple spent fifteen difficult years together before the marriage ended in a divorce in 2007.<br /><br />The movies also yielded some great songs, especially The Bodyguard, with almost all of its tracks managing to redeem Whitney in the eyes of her critics and fans alike, somehow managing to retain the pop sensibility without sounding like rehashes, and with some extremely powerful and creative vocal work by her. I Will Always Love You, I Have Nothing, I’m Every Woman, Run To You, and Jesus Loves Me are all from this soundtrack and continue to rule the airwaves to date. Waiting To Exhale with its all-star lineup of performers gave Whitney a great deal of the credibility that she desperately needed, though her most popular contribution to the album, Exhale Shoop Shoop can hardly be counted among her greatest songs. Though Why Does It Hurt So Bad did not make many of the top playlists, I still rate it as a better song.<br /><br />In my opinion, the greatest tragedy of Whitney Houston’s life lay not in her troubled personal life or declining vocal prowess in the later years, but in the fact that her best work as a singer is perhaps among her least recognized. I am referring to<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002VSN/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=susjedi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B000002VSN" target="_blank"> the soundtrack of The Preacher’s Wife</a>, an amazing collection of gospel tracks that showcases the richness of Whitney’s voice, the spiritual depth of her feelings, and the technical finesse that was perhaps largely wasted on an audience that turned her songs into dance accompaniment music at weddings and parties. If you have not heard this album and are a lover of good music of any genre, I strongly recommend you <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002VSN/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=susjedi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B000002VSN" target="_blank">get hold of it</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-an3lf4b9U6A/TzdaUXgj7lI/AAAAAAAABPs/VF_IhcR59Qg/s1600/whitney_preacherswife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-an3lf4b9U6A/TzdaUXgj7lI/AAAAAAAABPs/VF_IhcR59Qg/s400/whitney_preacherswife.jpg" width="393" /></a></div><br />At the turn of the millennium she released My Love is Your Love, notable perhaps for only the title track, a soul meets reggae meets pop track with Wyclef Jean, and Heartbreak Hotel, a song made more pertinent with the rumors of a troubled marriage starting to get louder and louder. Her public image too was taking a beating with drug possession charges, legal and financial battles with her management company, erratic behavior and disjointed appearance on television and at events making more news than her music.<br /><br />In the 2000s, she released a couple of forgettable studio albums, a couple of greatest hits compilation, and a Christmas album, none of which contained any new material that could match up to the artistic reputation she had built up. In 2009, putting her 2007 divorce and her struggles with drugs behind her, she released I Look To You, her first studio album in nearly seven years, planned on a concert tour, and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, also her first TV interview in seven years. The album went on to be a commercial success, but in spite of some exceptional songwriting and production values, Whitney’s voice was no longer what it used to be, and all her enthusiasm could not recreate the magic of her earlier years. Critics were often outspoken about both the album and the Nothing But Love tour to promote it. She missed the high notes, looked tired and withdrawn, cancelled shows, and left many in doubt as to whether she was truly holding together as a performer and a person.<br /><br />Whitney Houston was able to straddle glamor and simplicity, blend soul and pop, marry negro spirituality with white audience expectations and turn out songs that were inherently kitschy but elevated to the level of poetry by her rich and steady voice. One never ceased to be amazed at how her later songs would showcase her vocal mastery by bringing in an upward scale shift just when you thought she had hit the highest notes possible. And she would manage to add a trill to it that sounded just unbelievable at the top of the melody, holding it for what seemed like eternity.<br /><br />Her work not only laid the foundation for the emergence of singers like Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, but set a new standard for female vocalists to aim for in the field of the popular song format that would see people like Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Joss Stone, and several others try to emulate and develop more than two decades after her.<br /><br />May you find in death the peace that you sought in life, RIP, Whitney. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">*******</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>You may want to read my <a href="http://subhorup.blogspot.com/2012/02/54th-grammy-awards-2012.html" target="_blank">post written during the 54th Grammy Awards</a> telecast.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OperativeNotes/~4/xSgJKb8-GQI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Subhorup Dasguptahttps://plus.google.com/116417460198319253387noreply@blogger.com15http://opnotes.blogspot.com/2012/02/whitney-houston-dead-death.html